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. The top of a wave.






2. Glacial deposits laid down directly by glaciers or laid down in lakes & ocean & or streams as result of glacial activity.






3. 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.






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






5. No identifiable layers of minerals in a rock sample






6. Jupiter is named after the Roman king of the gods. It is the fifth planet from the Sun.






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






8. The physical & chemical & and biological processes by which rock at or near the Earth's surface is broken down into smaller pieces.






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






10. Open pit mining & typically for coal.






11. 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.






12. 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.






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






14. A hydrocarbon (coal or petroleum) that can be extracted from the Earth for use as a fuel. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources.






15. The surface between the zone of saturation and the zone of aeration.






16. Fossils formed when water containing minerals leaks into a mold. The minerals harden to form a copy of the original structure or organism.






17. 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.






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






19. The current geologic era & which began 66.4 million years ago and continues to the present.






20. The peak flow of water that tops the banks of a stream channel.






21. 1. A mass of sand & gravel & or alluvium deposited on the bed of a stream & sea & or lake & or at the mouth of a stream 2. A unit of pressure & approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level.






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






23. The seaward edge of coast between low tide and effective wave action.






24. Glacial drift composed of rock fragments that range from clay to boulder size and randomly arranged without bedding.






25. The process of one plate descending beneath another.






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






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






28. A detailed mathematical description of the cause-and-effect relationships between events that can be used to predict or explain other such events.






29. An icicle-shaped accumulation of dripstone hanging from cave roof.






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






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






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






33. 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.






34. The process of removing metal from ore.






35. 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






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






37. A sea level change due to change in load on Earth's crust.






38. The weak or 'soft' zone in the upper mantle just below the lithosphere & involved in plate movement and isostatic adjustments. It lies 70 to 100 km below the surface and may extend to a depth of 400 km.






39. The chronological sequence of units of Earth time.






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






41. All unconsolidated materials above bedrock. Natural earthy materials on the Earth's surface & in places modified or even made by human activity & containing living matter & and supporting or capable of supporting plants out of doors.






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






43. The precipitation that runs directly off the surface to stream or body of standing water.






44. The science that deals with the study of the planet Earth--the materials of which it is made & the processes that act to change these materials from one form to another & and the history recorded by these materials; the forces acting to deform the ou






45. The resistance of a mineral to scratching & as measured by the Mohs scale.






46. Lacking in rainfall & very dry.






47. That part of the continental margin that lies between the continental shelf and the continental rise. Slope relatively steep & 3o - 6o. The continental slope is underlain by crustal rocks of the continent.






48. A process by which salts accumulate in soil.






49. A general term for a relatively hard layer of soil at or just below the ground surface & cemented by silica & iron oxide & calcium carbonate & or organic matter.






50. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.