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. An atmospheric shield providing the Earth with protection from ultra-violet rays which can cause sun burn & skin cancer and the destruction of the delicate plant life which supports the planet's food chain.






2. A soft compact calcite & CaCO3 & with varying amounts of silica & quartz & feldspar & or other mineral impurities & generally gray-white or yellow-white and derived chiefly from fossil seashells.






3. The initial point within the Earth that ruptures in an earthquake & directly below the epicenter. The point within the Earth which is the center of an earthquake & at which strain energy is first released and converted to elastic wave energy.






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






5. Any of various minerals prized for beauty & durability & and rarity. A few noncrystalline materials of organic origin (e.g. & pearl & red coral & and amber) also are classified as gemstones.






6. A volcanic mountain on the seafloor. If flat-topped & it is a guyot.






7. 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.






8. Forms along a coast as wave erosion cuts through a headland.






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






10. A region of high heat flow on the Earth's surface & thought to lie above a mantle plume .






11. A giant structure that contains hundreds of billions of stars.






12. A glaciated valley now flooded by the sea.






13. The very small particles of dirt & soot & and other pollutants that are present in the air.






14. Temporary accumulations of sediments that collect between low and high water marks.






15. 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.






16. Till deposited from main body of glacier during ablation.






17. A coral reef separated from the mainland by a lagoon.






18. 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.






19. The generally dark & more or less stable part of the organic matter in a soil & so well decomposed that the original sources cannot be identified.






20. 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






21. A deposit of partly decayed plant remains in a very wet environment; marsh or swamp deposit of plant remains containing more than 50 percent carbon.






22. The zone below the zone of aeration in which all pore spaces are filled with water.






23. All of space and everything in it.






24. (Latin- Terra & Greek- Gaia) Earth is named after the ancient Germanic Goddess of the soil. It is the third planet from the Sun.






25. 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.






26. Where two plates collide to form mountains.






27. A substance that produces negatively charged hydroxide ions ( OH- ) in water and reacts with acids to form salts.






28. A narrow strip of land along the margin of the ocean extending inland for a variable distance from low water mark.






29. A rock changed from its original form and/or composition by heat & pressure &shearing stress & or chemically active fluids & or some combination of them.






30. That portion of the Earth below the crust and reaching to about 2 &780 km & where a transition zone of about 100 km thickness separates it from the core.






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






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






33. Water beneath the Earth's surface.






34. 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.






35. As applied to glacier ice & the process by which ice below the snow line is wasted by evaporation and melting.






36. An accumulation of wind driven sand into a distinctive shape.






37. The part of the crust that directly underlies the continents and continental shelves. Averages about 35 km in thickness & but may be over 70 km thick under largest mountain ranges.






38. Turbulent stream water flow down a steep gradient & but not as steep as in a waterfall.






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






40. Any of various minerals prized for beauty & durability & and rarity. A few noncrystalline materials of organic origin (e.g. & pearl & red coral & and amber) also are classified as gemstones.






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






42. 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.






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






44. An abandoned meander .






45. Any object that revolves around another object in space.






46. A building that contains one or more telescopes.






47. A general term including both oil and natural gas.






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






49. A fracture or zone of fractures along the boundaries of tectonic plates where movement has taken place.






50. 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