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. Fossils formed when water containing minerals leaks into a mold. The minerals harden to form a copy of the original structure or organism.






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






3. The process of removing metal from ore.






4. 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.






5. The process by which ocean floors spread laterally from crests of main ocean ridges. As material moves laterally from the ridge & new material replaces it along the ridge crest by welling upward from the mantle.






6. The outermost part of the core. It is liquid & about 1 &700 km thick & and separated from the inner & solid core by a transition zone about 565 km thick.






7. Of or relating to or containing basalt & a dark & dense & extrusive rock that has a silica content of 40% to 50% and makes up most of the ocean floor.






8. A seismic body wave that involves particle motion & alternating compression and expansion & in the direction of wave propagation. It is the fastest seismic wave. compare S-wave .






9. A comet that passed Earth in 1997 and won't return to the inner solar system until the year 4377.






10. The green pigment in the cells of many plants that enables them to use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates in the process called photosynthesis.






11. Occurs at the intersection of the water table with the ground surface.






12. All of space and everything in it.






13. Fossils formed when water containing minerals leaks into a mold. The minerals harden to form a copy of the original structure or organism.






14. Property possessed by certain rocks of breaking with relative ease along parallel planes or nearly parallel surfaces in their crystal structures where the bonds are weakest.






15. Pertaining to or composed of granite & a coarse-grained igneous rock dominated by light-colored minerals & consisting of about 50 percent orthoclase & 25 percent quartz & and balance of feldspars and ferromagnesian silicates. Granite is commonly foun






16. 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.






17. A building that contains one or more telescopes.






18. The internal resistance to flow in a liquid.






19. The perpendicular or very steep descent of a stream.






20. The rock beneath the soil.






21. An instrument that detects & magnifies & and records vibrations of the Earth & especially earthquakes.






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






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






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






25. Igneous. Antonym of intrusive. Synonym of volcanic. Pertaining to igneous rocks or features formed from lava released on the Earth's surface.






26. The process of removing metal from ore.






27. Sediments produced directly by the life processes of plants or animals.






28. The very slow & generally continuous downslope movement of soil and debris under the influence of gravity.






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






30. 1. A mass of sand & gravel & or alluvium deposited on the bed of a stream & sea & or lake & or at the mouth of a stream 2. A unit of pressure & approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level.






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






32. A landscape that develops from the action of ground water in areas of easily soluble rocks. It is usually characterized by caves & underground drainage and sinkholes.






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






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






35. The sudden fall of one or more large pieces of a rock from a cliff.






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






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






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






39. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






40. 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.






41. A broad & mound-like mass of glacier ice that usually spreads radially outward from a central zone.






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






43. The portion of the continental margin that extends as a gently sloping surface from the shoreline seaward to a marked change in slope at the top of the continental slope . Seaward depth averages about 130 m.






44. 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.






45. The oldest eon in Earth history & extending from the origin of the Earth to about 3.9 billion years ago.






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






47. A commonly used scale of earthquake intensity.






48. A pillar formed as a stalactite and stalagmite meet.






49. The dust-sized & sharp-edged & glassy particles resulting from an explosive volcanic eruption.






50. An eon of geologic time extending from about 3.9 billion years to 2.5 billion years ago.