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






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






3. The process of one plate descending beneath another.






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






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






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






7. A large area of flat or nearly flat land.






8. The height of a place above sea level.






9. Deposition of fine mineral particles (silt) on the beds of streams or lakes.






10. An isolated & steep-sided & rocky mass or island just offshore from a rocky headland & usually on a shore platform.






11. The processes (mechanical and chemical) responsible for the wearing away & loosening & and dissolving of materials of the Earth's crust.






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






13. The pattern of water circulation from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean.






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






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






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






17. The theory of Plate Tectonics states that the Earth's crust is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small pieces floating on a semi-molten mantle.






18. 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.






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






20. The rise and fall of sea level caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon on the Earth.






21. A mass of ice & formed by the recrystallization of snow & that flows forward & or has flowed at some time in the past.






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






23. Extending across a continent.






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






25. 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.






26. A broad & deep & generally straight furrow carved in bed rock by the abrasive action of debris embedded in a moving glacier. Larger and deeper than a glacial striation.






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






28. 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.






29. A group of stars that appear to make a pattern in the sky. The Big Dipper is a constellation.






30. 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 .






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






32. A supercontinent that existed from the the end of the Permian to the Jurassic & 300 to 200 million years ago & assembled from large continents like Euramerica & Gondwana & and Siberia & as well as smaller landmasses like the Cathaysian and Cimmerian






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 reverse fault on which the dip angle of the fault plane is 15 degrees or less.






35. Imaginary lines on a map or globe that measure distance in degrees north or south of the equator. Latitude lines extend horizontally & from east to west on a globe.






36. 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.






37. A narrow & steep-walled depression in the ocean floor & much deeper than the adjacent ocean and associated with a subduction zone.






38. Rock formed from the accumulation of sediment & Which may consist of fragments and mineral grains of varying sizes from pre-existing rocks & remains or products of animals and plants & the products of chemical action & or mixtures of these.






39. A steep or vertical cliff & either above or below sea level.






40. A sedimentary rock composed of combustible matter derived from the partial decomposition of plant material.






41. The very slow & generally continuous downslope movement of soil and debris under the influence of gravity.






42. A device built to study distant objects by making them appear closer.






43. Lies half way between the north and south magnetic poles.






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






45. A reverse fault on which the dip angle of the fault plane is 15 degrees or less.






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






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






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






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






50. A rock that has crystallized from a molten state.