Test your basic knowledge |

Earth Science

Subject : science
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The point on the Earth's surface where a magnetic needle points vertically downward (north magnetic pole) or vertically upward (south magnetic pole).






2. The physical & chemical & and biological processes by which rock at or near the Earth's surface is broken down into smaller pieces.






3. The weak or 'soft' zone in the upper mantle just below the lithosphere & involved in plate movement and isostatic adjustments. It lies 70 to 100 km below the surface and may extend to a depth of 400 km.






4. Glacial deposits laid down directly by glaciers or laid down in lakes & ocean & or streams as result of glacial activity.






5. A vertical conduit through the Earth's crust below a volcano & through Which magma has passed.






6. The study of earthquakes & and of the structure of the Earth by both natural and artificially generated seismic waves.






7. The average weather conditions of an area over many years & as measured by temperature & wind speed & and precipitation.






8. An aggregate of one or more minerals in varying proportions.






9. The geologic eon lying between the Archean and Phanerozoic eons & beginning about 2.5 billion years ago and ending about 0.57 billion years ago.






10. The upper horizons in a soil & through which gravitational moisture travels & removing soluble decomposition products.






11. Synonym of intrusive. Antonym of volcanic. Applies to igneous rocks formed beneath the surface of the Earth; typically with large crystals due to the slowness of cooling.






12. A lake of lava & usually basaltic & in a volcanic caldera.






13. The dust-sized & sharp-edged & glassy particles resulting from an explosive volcanic eruption.






14. An eruption of lava that takes place from a fracture & usually without producing a cone.






15. The resistance of a mineral to scratching & as measured by the Mohs scale.






16. Heat transport by moving particles & and the thermal energy that they carry & to a new location.






17. A blanket of wind-driven sand with an upper surface about a meter above ground level.






18. The concept of a sequence of events involving the formation & alteration & destruction and reformation of rocks as a result of geologic processes.






19. The average weather conditions of an area over many years & as measured by temperature & wind speed & and precipitation.






20. 1. A mass of sand & gravel & or alluvium deposited on the bed of a stream & sea & or lake & or at the mouth of a stream 2. A unit of pressure & approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level.






21. The outermost part of the core. It is liquid & about 1 &700 km thick & and separated from the inner & solid core by a transition zone about 565 km thick.






22. A thick layer of soil.






23. The theory that states that the present-day continents are the fragmented pieces of preexisting larger landmasses called supercontinents.






24. Pertaining to or composed of granite & a coarse-grained igneous rock dominated by light-colored minerals & consisting of about 50 percent orthoclase & 25 percent quartz & and balance of feldspars and ferromagnesian silicates. Granite is commonly foun






25. A lake in an abandoned meander.






26. The portion of the continental margin that lies between the abyssal plain and the continental slope. The continental rise is underlain by crustal rocks of the ocean basin.






27. A broad & mound-like mass of glacier ice that usually spreads radially outward from a central zone.






28. A Hawaiian term for a basaltic lava flow with a smooth & or ropy surface.






29. To change back and forth uncertainly.






30. A small & dust-bearing whirlwind.






31. Produced as a wave steepens and falls forward as the wave nears the shore.






32. A ball of ice and dust & whose orbit is a long & narrow ellipse.






33. That portion of the resources for a valuable mineral commodity that can be extracted from the Earth at a profit today.






34. One of several rock-forming minerals that contain at least 95% silica (quartz). and usually one or more other common elements.






35. A famous scientist who proposed that the Sun was the center of the solar system not the Earth. (Heliocentrism)






36. The way in which a rock or mineral breaks in random patterns rather than cleaving






37. The symbol used on a map to indicate directions & both cardinal and ordinal.






38. A study designed to collect critical data to be used for comparison or as a control in a later study.






39. The sudden fall of one or more large pieces of a rock from a cliff.






40. A type of disintegration in which jointed rock is forced apart by the expansion of water as it freezes in fractures.






41. A glaciated valley now flooded by the sea.






42. Any molten material that is extrusive or volcanic & or the rock that forms from a molten extrusive. Molten rock that flows at the Earth's surface.






43. Rock formed from the accumulation of sediment & Which may consist of fragments and mineral grains of varying sizes from pre-existing rocks & remains or products of animals and plants & the products of chemical action & or mixtures of these.






44. The distance between two successive wave crests or troughs.






45. The reserves of a valuable mineral commodity plus all other mineral deposits that may eventually become available & even those that are presumed to exist but have not yet been discovered and those that are not economically or technologically exploita






46. A type of thermal spring which ejects water intermittently with considerable force.






47. A small & dust-bearing whirlwind.






48. A rock changed from its original form and/or composition by heat & pressure &shearing stress & or chemically active fluids & or some combination of them.






49. Sediment formed by chemical precipitation from water. Example: halite precipitated as the result of the evaporation of sea water.






50. An area of land that delivers runoff water & sediment & and dissolved substances to surface water bodies & such as rivers or lakes. All watersheds consist of boundaries & a basin and collection areas.