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






2. Mountains & characterized by extensive folding and thrust faulting & that form at convergent plate boundaries on continents.






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






4. The distance between two successive wave crests or troughs.






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






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






7. Elongated rises on the ocean floor where basalt periodically erupts & forming new oceanic crust.






8. Scratches & or small channels & gouged by glacier action. Occur on boulders & pebbles & and bedrock. Striations along bedrock indicate direction of ice movement.






9. A roughly circular reef with an occasional small & low & coral sand island surrounding a shallow lagoon.






10. An instrument that merely indicates the occurrence of an earthquake.






11. The persistence of wind-formed waves after wind ceases.






12. A waste material that contaminates air & water & or soil.






13. A chuck of rock or dust in space.






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






15. A lake in an abandoned meander.






16. The level of light that penetrates through water.






17. 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.






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






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






20. A division of geologic time next shorter than a period. Example: the Pleistocene epoch is in the Quaternary period.






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






22. The condition of equilibrium & comparable to floating & of units of the lithosphere above the asthenosphere.






23. Water that flows across watersheds during and immediately after severe rainstorms. In populated areas & stormwater runoff is often water that cannot be handled by existing sewer systems. Stormwater runoff is the leading source of water pollution in t






24. The innermost zone of Earth. It consists of two parts & an outer liquid section and an inner solid section & both chiefly of iron and nickel with about 10 percent lighter elements. It is surrounded by the mantle.






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






26. A continuous well-defined mass of material of sufficient ore content to make extraction economically feasible. compare mineral deposit.






27. The southern portion of the late Paleozoic supercontinent known as Pangea. It means & literally 'Land of the Gonds' (a people of the Indian subcontinent).The supercontinent existed from Cambrian to Jurassic time & mainly composed of South America &






28. The partial or complete blocking from view of one object by another.






29. A seismic body wave that involves particle motion from side to side & perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. S-waves are slower than P-waves and cannot travel through a liquid.






30. A blanket of wind-driven sand with an upper surface about a meter above ground level.






31. A measure of the strength of an earthquake based on the amount of movement recorded by a seismograph . compare Richter scale.






32. The low spot between two successive waves.






33. 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.






34. A statement of relative age in layered rocks: In a series of sedimentary rocks that has not been overturned & the topmost layer is always the youngest and the bottommost layer is always the oldest.






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






36. The amount of dissolved salt in water.






37. An area in which a large number of windmills have been erected to generate electrical power.






38. Extending across a continent.






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






40. A flood that rises and falls very rapidly.






41. Water that flows across watersheds during and immediately after severe rainstorms. In populated areas & stormwater runoff is often water that cannot be handled by existing sewer systems. Stormwater runoff is the leading source of water pollution in t






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






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






44. 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.






45. The color of a mineral in its powdered form obtained from scraping a sample on a ceramic plate






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






47. In the geologic time scale a unit of time less than an era and greater than an epoch. Example: The Tertiary period was the earliest period in the Cenozoic era and included & among others & the Eocene epoch.






48. A permeable region of rock or soil through which ground water can move.






49. A small & dust-bearing whirlwind.






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