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 instrument used to measure the speed of wind.






2. 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'.






3. The principle that states the processes operating to change the Earth in the present also operated in the past.






4. A type of volcanic eruption characterized by nuees ardentes and the development of lava domes.






5. A hydrocarbon (coal or petroleum) that can be extracted from the Earth for use as a fuel. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources.






6. The attractive force between two objects; its magnitude depends on their masses and the distance between them.






7. Forms along a coast as wave erosion cuts through a headland.






8. The top of a wave.






9. Imaginary lines on a map or globe that measure distance in degrees north or south of the equator. Latitude lines extend horizontally & from east to west on a globe.






10. A volcanic mountain on the seafloor. If flat-topped & it is a guyot.






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






12. A seismic body wave that involves particle motion from side to side & perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. S-waves are slower than P-waves and cannot travel through a liquid.






13. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






14. The naturally occurring material from which a mineral or minerals of economic value can be extracted at a profit.






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






16. Where one plate slides beneath another plate as the two are pushed together & a subduction zone.






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






18. The straightening and/or deepening of a river channel.






19. An accumulation of wind driven sand into a distinctive shape.






20. 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.






21. A method of sediment transport in which the turbulence of a fluid is able to keep particles supported in the fluid.






22. Heat transport by direct transfer of energy from one particle to another & without moving the particle to a new location.






23. A low & nearly flat accumulation of sediment deposited at the mouth of a river or stream & commonly triangular or fan-shaped.






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






25. A group of stars that appear to make a pattern in the sky. The Big Dipper is a constellation.






26. 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.






27. The solid innermost part of the core with a diameter of a little over 1 &200 km.






28. An area where fresh water comes into contact with seawater & usually in a partly enclosed coastal body of water; a mix of fresh and salt water where the current of a stream meets the tides.






29. A floating ice sheet extending across water from a land-based glacier.






30. Gases (primarily water and carbon dioxide & but also a variety of sulfur and nitrogen compounds and gaseous hydrocarbons) that trap the Sun's heat in the atmosphere.






31. Flat land covered with tall grass and wildflowers.






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






33. The process of one plate descending beneath another.






34. A molecule composed of three atoms of oxygen and mostly found in the stratosphere. Though beneficial in the upper atmosphere & at ground level & ozone is called photochemical smog & and is a respiratory irritant and considered a pollutant.






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






36. The relationship between distances in the area being mapped and distances in the map itself.






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






38. Refers to rock or sediments made up primarily of broken fragments of pre-existing rocks or minerals.






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






40. Soil conditions prevailing in area whose mean annual temperature is 0o C.






41. 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.






42. A plate boundary in which plates on opposite sides of the boundary move past each other in opposite directions. The San Andreas fault of California is a good example.






43. A sedimentary rock composed of combustible matter derived from the partial decomposition of plant material.






44. 1. A steep-walled & usually conical depression at the summit or on the flanks of a volcano & resulting from the explosive ejection of material from a vent. 2. A bowl-shaped depression with a raised & overturned rim produced by the impact of a meteori






45. The Sun with all the celestial bodies that revolve around it.






46. A vent on the seafloor from which hydrothermal fluids are emitted. Upon mixing with seawater and cooling & the fluids precipitate a cloud of fine-grained sulfide minerals that resembles a cloud of black smoke.






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






48. A detailed mathematical description of the cause-and-effect relationships between events that can be used to predict or explain other such events.






49. A process by which salts accumulate in soil.






50. A sedimentary rock composed primarily of biogenic sediments.