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






2. Water beneath the Earth's surface.






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






4. No identifiable layers of minerals in a rock sample






5. 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.






6. 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.






7. Bent rock strata.






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






9. 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.






10. The arrangement of rock units in the proper chronological order from youngest to oldest.






11. Heat transport by moving particles & and the thermal energy that they carry & to a new location.






12. The closest star to Earth besides the sun. It is approximately 4 light years away.






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






14. Deserts formed by blocking moisture-bearing winds with mountain barriers.






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






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






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






18. The vertical distance between the crest and adjacent trough of a wave.






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






20. The peak flow of water that tops the banks of a stream channel.






21. A natural depression in the surface of the land caused by the collapse of the roof of a cavern or subterranean passage & generally occurring in limestone regions.






22. A sea level change due to change in load on Earth's crust.






23. He area from which a stream and its tributaries receives its water.






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






25. The production of living matter by organisms that make food using sunlight or chemicals. Usually expressed as grams of carbon per square meter per year.






26. The average weather conditions of an area over many years & as measured by temperature & wind speed & and precipitation.






27. 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.






28. A device built to study distant objects by making them appear closer.






29. A system involving continuous interaction of the solid Earth & the atmosphere & the oceans and living things.






30. The theory that states that the present-day continents are the fragmented pieces of preexisting larger landmasses called supercontinents.






31. A hole or basin cut into bedrock of a stream by the abrasive action of pebbles and sand swirled by turbulent stream flow.






32. The point on the Earth's surface where a magnetic needle points vertically downward (north magnetic pole) or vertically upward (south magnetic pole).






33. A volcano in the shape of a flattened cone & broad and low & built by very fluid flows of basaltic lava.






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






35. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






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






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






38. A group of islands; an expanse of water with scattered islands.






39. 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.






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






41. A large ridge or mound-like structure within a body of water that is built by calcareous organisms such as corals & red algae & and bivalves.






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






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






44. A type of thermal spring which ejects water intermittently with considerable force.






45. An isolated & steep-sided & rocky mass or island just offshore from a rocky headland & usually on a shore platform.






46. Extending across a continent.






47. A segment of an active fault zone that has not experienced a major earthquake during a time period when most other segments of the zone have. They are generally regarded as having a higher potential for future earthquakes.






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






49. Iron & aluminum & magnesium & manganese & and titanium. Ores of the abundant metals only need to be 3 - 5 times as metal-rich as average rock.






50. The processes (mechanical and chemical) responsible for the wearing away & loosening & and dissolving of materials of the Earth's crust.