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. Molten rock & containing dissolved gases and suspended solid particles. At the Earth's surface & magma is known as lava.






2. The low spot between two successive waves.






3. 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.






4. 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






5. The rigid outer shell of the Earth. It includes the crust and uppermost mantle and is on the order of 100 km in thickness.






6. An ingredient in a food or other substance that nourishes or promotes growth.






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






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






9. A building that contains one or more telescopes.






10. An astronomical instrument for measuring angles & primarily altitude of celestial bodies to determine latitude.






11. A flat & dry plain covered with short grass.






12. Geologic time expressed in years before the present.






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






14. The two days of the year on which neither hemisphere is tilted toward or away from the sun.






15. Water beneath the Earth's surface.






16. A term applied to large areas of basaltic lava presumably extruded from fissures.






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






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






19. 1. A steep-walled & usually conical depression at the summit or on the flanks of a volcano & resulting from the explosive ejection of material from a vent. 2. A bowl-shaped depression with a raised & overturned rim produced by the impact of a meteori






20. 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.






21. 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.






22. The breaking away of ice from the front of the glacier when it ends in a lake or an ocean. Produces icebergs.






23. 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.






24. 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.






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






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






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






28. A ridge of high water associated with a hurricane and which floods over the shore .






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






30. The area bordering a stream over which water spreads when the stream tops its channel banks.






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






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






33. An earthquake that follows and has its epicenter near a larger earthquake.






34. A steep-sided rounded extrusion of highly viscous lava squeezed out from a volcano and forming a dome-shaped or bulbous mass above and around the volcanic vent. The structure generally develops inside a volcanic crater.






35. 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.






36. Similar to a groin but built to keep sand out of a harbor entrance.






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






38. A process by which salts accumulate in soil.






39. One of several rock-forming minerals that contain at least 95% silica (quartz). and usually one or more other common elements.






40. Soil conditions prevailing in area whose mean annual temperature is 0o C.






41. Pluto is named after the Roman god of the Underworld. No longer considered a planet.






42. The principle that states the processes operating to change the Earth in the present also operated in the past.






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






44. A measure of the size of an earthquake in terms of the damage it causes.






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






46. Living in water.






47. A volcano that is composed of alternating layers of lava and pyroclastic material & along with abundant dikes and sills. Viscous & intermediate lava may flow from a central vent. Example: Mt. Fuji in Japan.






48. The portion of the continental margin that lies between the abyssal plain and the continental slope. The continental rise is underlain by crustal rocks of the ocean basin.






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






50. A coral reef attached directly to the mainland.