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 acidity in rain due to gases from internal combustion engines and coal- and oil-burning power plants.






2. The outermost layer of the Earth & varying in thickness from about 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the oceans & to 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) below the continents; represents less than 1 percent of the Earth's volume.






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






4. The level of light that penetrates through water.






5. An informal term to include all geologic time from the beginning of the Earth to the beginning of the Cambrian period 570 million years ago.






6. The layer of gases (air) & that surrounds a planet or moon.






7. The theory of Plate Tectonics states that the Earth's crust is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small pieces floating on a semi-molten mantle.






8. (Latin- Terra & Greek- Gaia) Earth is named after the ancient Germanic Goddess of the soil. It is the third planet from the Sun.






9. A unit of length used in sea navigation based on the length of 1 minute of arc on a great circle. On Earth & 1 minute of latitude.






10. 1. A low & bowl-shaped area of land surrounded by higher lands. 2. any large depression in which sediments are deposited.






11. Any place where bedrock is visible on the surface of the Earth.






12. A downward distortion or dimple in the water table that forms as a well pumps water faster than it can flow through the aquifer.






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






14. Highly mafic igneous volcanic rock & typically fine-grained and dark in color; rough volcanic equivalent of gabbro. Basalt is the most abundant volcanic rock in the Earth's crust.






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






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






17. 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.






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






19. 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.






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






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






22. A delta formed at both sides of a tidal inlet.






23. Ratio between weight of given volume of material and weight of equal volume of pure water.






24. A hot & gaseous & self-luminous celestial body & as the Sun.






25. A guide to reading a map that typically contains distance scales & arrows indicating direction & and/or explanations of symbols used.






26. A zone in the Earth between 400 and 670 km below the surface separating the upper mantle from the lower mantle.






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






28. The method of locating an epicenter by determining how far it lies from three widely separated seismographs.






29. A waterway from open ocean into a lagoon.






30. A process of erosion in which wind carries off particles of dust and sand.






31. The method of locating an epicenter by determining how far it lies from three widely separated seismographs.






32. The formation & advance and retreat of glaciers and the results of these activities.






33. The theory of Plate Tectonics states that the Earth's crust is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small pieces floating on a semi-molten mantle.






34. The most recent eon of geologic time beginning 570 million years ago and continuing to the present.






35. Any object that revolves around another object in space.






36. Flat land covered with tall grass and wildflowers.






37. Uranus is named after the Roman god of the sky. It is the seventh planet from the Sun.






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






39. The process of mountain building.






40. A sedimentary rock composed primarily of biogenic sediments.






41. The explosion of a dying giant or supergiant star.






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






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






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






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






46. Living parts of the environment that can renew or replace themselves.






47. 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






48. The accumulation of material in layers or beds.






49. An informal term to include all geologic time from the beginning of the Earth to the beginning of the Cambrian period 570 million years ago.






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