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. 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.






2. A curved belt of volcanic islands lying above a subduction zone.






3. 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 .






4. Imaginary lines on a map or globe that measure distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian. Longitude lines extend vertically & from pole to pole on a globe.






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






6. A sharp bend & loop or turn in a stream's course. When abandoned & it is called a meander scar or an oxbow.






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






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






9. A sedimentary rock made up of chemical sediments. Example: rock salt.






10. The first scientist to make systematic use of the telescope in looking at the heavens.






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






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






13. A worldwide change in sea level & such as caused by melting glaciers.






14. The geologic eon lying between the Archean and Phanerozoic eons & beginning about 2.5 billion years ago and ending about 0.57 billion years ago.






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






16. In a stream & the volume of water passing through a channel in a given time.






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






18. 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.






19. Where two plates collide to form mountains.






20. The direction & north (normal) or south (reversed) & that a magnetic compass needle points.






21. Reduction of pore space between individual particles as the result of overlying sediments or of tectonic movements.






22. An individual grain or constituent of a rock.






23. 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.






24. 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.






25. The distance light travels through a vacuum in one year.






26. 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






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






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






29. A Hawaiian term for a basaltic lava flow with a smooth & or ropy surface.






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






31. 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.






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






33. 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.






34. A sedimentary rock composed primarily of biogenic sediments.






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






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






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






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






39. An aggregate of one or more minerals in varying proportions.






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






41. A stone or boulder & glacially transported from place of origin and left in an area of different bedrock composition.






42. Extending across a continent.






43. 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.






44. The internal resistance to flow in a liquid.






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






46. A large & basin-shaped volcanic depression & more or less circular in form. Typically steep-sided & found at the summit of a shield volcano.






47. The resistance of a mineral to scratching & as measured by the Mohs scale.






48. Flat land covered with tall grass and wildflowers.






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






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