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. A substance that produces positively charged hydrogen ions (H+) when dissolved in water.






2. The processes of weathering by which physical actions such as frost wedging break down a rock into fragments & involving no chemical change.






3. A tool for measuring the relative clarity of water.






4. An area subject to dust storms & especially south central United States .






5. Applies to igneous rocks that cool on the surface of the Earth & including beneath water; typically with small crystals due to the rapidity of cooling. Synonym of extrusive. Antonym of plutonic.






6. A large volume of dust-sized particles lifted high into the atmosphere.






7. Imaginary lines on a map or globe that measure distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian. Longitude lines extend vertically & from pole to pole on a globe.






8. The green pigment in the cells of many plants that enables them to use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates in the process called photosynthesis.






9. A narrow strip of land that has water on either side and connects two larger bodies of water.






10. A cavity in a lava & formed by the entrapment of a gas bubble during solidification of the lava.






11. 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.






12. A vent in the surface of the Earth & from which lava & ash & and gases erupt.






13. A lake in an abandoned meander.






14. A fracture or zone of fractures along the boundaries of tectonic plates where movement has taken place.






15. The science that deals with the study of the planet Earth--the materials of which it is made & the processes that act to change these materials from one form to another & and the history recorded by these materials; the forces acting to deform the ou






16. Either the northern or southern half of the Earth as divided by the equator & or the eastern or western half as divided by a meridian.






17. A coral reef separated from the mainland by a lagoon.






18. A rock that has crystallized from a molten state.






19. A major drainage divide separating the drainage to one ocean from another.






20. The part of the crust that directly underlies the continents and continental shelves. Averages about 35 km in thickness & but may be over 70 km thick under largest mountain ranges.






21. A device containing a free-swinging magnetic needle that is attracted to Earth's magnetic North Pole. Used to determine direction of travel.






22. A protective wall built offshore and usually parallel to the shore.






23. A measure of acidity.






24. A layer of sedimentary rock; plural is strata.






25. A mudflow composed chiefly of pyroclastic material on the flanks of a volcano.






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






27. A conical volcano formed by the accumulation of pyroclastic debris around a vent.






28. Pertaining to clastic material formed by volcanic explosion or aerial expulsion from a volcanic vent.






29. The line that separates one drainage basin from another.






30. A time of unusual winds and currents in the Pacific Ocean . El Nino generally causes warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures and increased rainfall and storm activity.






31. 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.






32. Living in water.






33. The primary division of geologic time which are & from oldest to youngest & the Hadean & Archean & Proterozoic & and Phanerozoic eons.






34. A building that contains one or more telescopes.






35. The elevation at which snow persists throughout the year.






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






37. Scratches & or small channels & gouged by glacier action. Occur on boulders & pebbles & and bedrock. Striations along bedrock indicate direction of ice movement.






38. A process by which salts accumulate in soil.






39. In the geologic time scale a unit of time less than an era and greater than an epoch. Example: The Tertiary period was the earliest period in the Cenozoic era and included & among others & the Eocene epoch.






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






41. In the geologic time scale a unit of time less than an era and greater than an epoch. Example: The Tertiary period was the earliest period in the Cenozoic era and included & among others & the Eocene epoch.






42. The height of a place above sea level.






43. Occurs at the intersection of the water table with the ground surface.






44. A measure of acidity.






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






46. The environment where a particular plant or animal is normally found.






47. A waterway from open ocean into a lagoon.






48. Temporary accumulations of sediments that collect between low and high water marks.






49. The transformation of a soil from a solid to a liquid state as the result of increased pore pressure.






50. The initial point within the Earth that ruptures in an earthquake & directly below the epicenter. The point within the Earth which is the center of an earthquake & at which strain energy is first released and converted to elastic wave energy.