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 dense & hot (sometimes incandescent) cloud of volcanic ash and gas produced in a Pelean eruption.






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






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






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






5. The generally dark & more or less stable part of the organic matter in a soil & so well decomposed that the original sources cannot be identified.






6. A mass of ice & formed by the recrystallization of snow & that flows forward & or has flowed at some time in the past.






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






8. Deserts in zones of descending air between 25 degrees and 30 degrees north and south latitude.






9. The low spot between two successive waves.






10. The sum of the processes that result in the wearing away or the progressive lowering of the Earth's surface by weathering & erosion & mass wasting & and transportation.






11. Swamp that forms in the low lying flood plain behind a levee.






12. The area bordering a stream over which water spreads when the stream tops its channel banks.






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






14. Any form of water & such as rain & sleet & or snow & that falls to Earth's surface.






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






16. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






17. An ingredient in a food or other substance that nourishes or promotes growth.






18. The area immediately below the ground surface within which pore spaces are partially filled with water and partially filled with air.






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






20. Flat land covered with tall grass and wildflowers.






21. 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.






22. A slide involving a downward and usually sudden movement of newly detached segments of bedrock sliding or slipping over an inclined surface of weakness such as a bedding plane & fault plane & or joint surface.






23. The Earth's crust underlying the ocean basins which is formed at mid-oceanic ridges. It is typically 5 to 10 kilometers thick composed of basalt.






24. A broad & deep & generally straight furrow carved in bed rock by the abrasive action of debris embedded in a moving glacier. Larger and deeper than a glacial striation.






25. A depression in the ground formed by the melting of a block of glacier ice buried or partially buried by drift.






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






27. Named after the Roman god of the sea. It is the eighth planet from the Sun.






28. A coral reef attached directly to the mainland.






29. Deposits of wind-borne dust.






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






31. The prediction that climate will warm as a result of the addition to the atmosphere of humanly produced greenhouse gases.






32. The zone below the zone of aeration in which all pore spaces are filled with water.






33. A naturally occurring inorganic solid that has a well-defined chemical composition and in which atoms are arranged in an ordered fashion.






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






35. The region of a shore that is covered at high tide and exposed at low tide.






36. The effect of water and carbon dioxide absorbing outgoing infrared radiation & raising a system's temperature. The term is generally used with reference to the Earth's temperature & although it can also be applied to other systems & such as greenhous






37. A supercontinent that existed from the Jurassic to Early Tertiary after splitting from Pangea; composed of Laurentia & Baltica & Avalonia & (modern North America & Scandinavia & Greenland & Western and Central Europe); eventually fragmented into Eur






38. 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.






39. An artificial hill formed by the debris of successive human settlements.






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






41. The two days of the year on which the noon sun is directly overhead at either 23.5






42. A soft compact calcite & CaCO3 & with varying amounts of silica & quartz & feldspar & or other mineral impurities & generally gray-white or yellow-white and derived chiefly from fossil seashells.






43. Weathering processes that are the result of chemical reactions. Example: the transformation of orthoclase to kaolinite.






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






45. An era of time during the Phanerozoic eon lasting from 245 million years ago to 66.4 million ago.






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






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






48. A river that is able to maintain its flow through a desert because of water received from outside the desert.






49. (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.






50. A thickened elevated region of Earth's crust that is mainly (but not entirely) above sea level.