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. A general term including both oil and natural gas.






2. The explosion of a dying giant or supergiant star.






3. A rigid segment of the Earth's lithosphere that moves horizontally and adjoins other plates along zones of seismic activity. Plates may include portions of both continents and ocean basins.






4. A large area with common features that set it apart from other areas.






5. Distance over which wave-forming winds blow.






6. The galaxy where Earth is located.






7. A process by which salts accumulate in soil.






8. An informal term to include all geologic time from the beginning of the Earth to the beginning of the Cambrian period 570 million years ago.






9. 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.






10. The point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.






11. A valley carved by glacier erosion and whose cross-valley profile has steep sides and a nearly flat floor & suggestive of a large letter 'you'.






12. An informal term to include all geologic time from the beginning of the Earth to the beginning of the Cambrian period 570 million years ago.






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






14. The point on the Earth's surface where a magnetic needle points vertically downward (north magnetic pole) or vertically upward (south magnetic pole).






15. The line formed by the intersection of the axial plane of a fold with a bedding plane & marking where the bed shows its maximum curvature.






16. A substance that produces positively charged hydrogen ions (H+) when dissolved in water.






17. Uranus is named after the Roman god of the sky. It is the seventh planet from the Sun.






18. Produced as a wave steepens and falls forward as the wave nears the shore.






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






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






21. 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.






22. A period of dryness & that when prolonged & causes damage to crops; a shortage of water.






23. The average weather conditions of an area over many years & as measured by temperature & wind speed & and precipitation.






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






25. To preserve & or to avoid wasteful use.






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






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






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






29. 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.






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






31. Any solid material that has settled out of a state of suspension in liquid.






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






33. 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.






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






35. A narrow & elongate region in which one lithospheric plate descends relative to another.






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






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






38. A conical volcano formed by the accumulation of pyroclastic debris around a vent.






39. A narrow strip of land that has water on either side and connects two larger bodies of water.






40. 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.






41. A study designed to collect critical data to be used for comparison or as a control in a later study.






42. A system that uses a constellation of 24 satellites & their ground stations & and individual GPS receivers to accurately locate points on Earth.






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






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






45. Pertaining to clastic material formed by volcanic explosion or aerial expulsion from a volcanic vent.






46. The attractive force between two objects; its magnitude depends on their masses and the distance between them.






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






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






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






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