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. An atmospheric shield providing the Earth with protection from ultra-violet rays which can cause sun burn & skin cancer and the destruction of the delicate plant life which supports the planet's food chain.






2. A period of dryness & that when prolonged & causes damage to crops; a shortage of water.






3. The surface between the zone of saturation and the zone of aeration.






4. The uprush of a wave onto the beach followed by the return flow of the water down the beach slope in the intervals between waves.






5. A rigid segment of the Earth's lithosphere that moves horizontally and adjoins other plates along zones of seismic activity. Plates may include portions of both continents and ocean basins.






6. The great circle on the Earth's surface passing through The North and South Poles & which is considered 0 degrees longitude. The prime meridian passes through Greenwich & England & and is used as a reference point for measuring longitude east and w






7. Water that flows across watersheds during and immediately after severe rainstorms. In populated areas & stormwater runoff is often water that cannot be handled by existing sewer systems. Stormwater runoff is the leading source of water pollution in t






8. Banks of sand and silt along stream bank built by deposition in small increments during successive floods.






9. The persistence of wind-formed waves after wind ceases.






10. Evidence in rock of the presence of past life & such as a dinosaur bone & an ancient clam shell & or the footprint of a long-extinct animal as well as life history artifacts.






11. The distance light travels through a vacuum in one year.






12. Any seismic wave that travels through the body of Earth & rather than along its surface.






13. A giant structure that contains hundreds of billions of stars.






14. A coral reef attached directly to the mainland.






15. (Greek-Aphrodite)named after the Roman goddess of love. It is the planet closest in size to Earth and the second planted from the Sun.






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






17. Elongated rises on the ocean floor where basalt periodically erupts & forming new oceanic crust.






18. The accumulation of material in layers or beds.






19. The level of light that penetrates through water.






20. Molten rock & containing dissolved gases and suspended solid particles. At the Earth's surface & magma is known as lava.






21. 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.






22. Enormous & thick sheets of rock that are part of the Earth's upper mantle that move and adjoin each other along zones of seismic activity. Many tectonic plates extend underneath both continents and sea floor.






23. 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.






24. A large area of flat or nearly flat land.






25. Similar to a groin but built to keep sand out of a harbor entrance.






26. A valley carved by glacier erosion and whose cross-valley profile has steep sides and a nearly flat floor & suggestive of a large letter 'you'.






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






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






29. 1. Breach in a natural levee . 2. Deep crevice or open fracture in glacier ice.






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






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






32. The breaking away of ice from the front of the glacier when it ends in a lake or an ocean. Produces icebergs.






33. A deposit of partly decayed plant remains in a very wet environment; marsh or swamp deposit of plant remains containing more than 50 percent carbon.






34. The point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.






35. The surface between the zone of saturation and the zone of aeration.






36. Containing moisture.






37. The distance light travels through a vacuum in one year.






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






39. Glacial drift composed of rock fragments that range from clay to boulder size and randomly arranged without bedding.






40. A curved belt of volcanic islands lying above a subduction zone.






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






42. A geometrical form taken by a mineral & giving external expression to orderly internal atomic arrangement.






43. 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.






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






45. The process of one plate descending beneath another.






46. The reflection of light on a given mineral's surface & classified by intensity and quality.






47. The first scientist to make systematic use of the telescope in looking at the heavens.






48. The mass of an object divided by its volume.






49. A narrow & elongate region in which one lithospheric plate descends relative to another.






50. The rigid outer shell of the Earth. It includes the crust and uppermost mantle and is on the order of 100 km in thickness.