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






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






3. The speed at which water flows.






4. Deserts formed by blocking moisture-bearing winds with mountain barriers.






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






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






7. 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.






8. Living on land.






9. Mars is named after the Roman god of war. It is the fourth planet from the Sun.






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






11. The production of living matter by organisms that make food using sunlight or chemicals. Usually expressed as grams of carbon per square meter per year.






12. Reduction of pore space between individual particles as the result of overlying sediments or of tectonic movements.






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






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






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






16. 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.






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. An instrument used to measure the speed of wind.






19. Surficial mining & in which the valuable rock is exposed by removal of overlying rock or soil.






20. The zones of seismic activity long which plates are in contact.






21. Scratches & or small channels & gouged by glacier action. Occur on boulders & pebbles & and bedrock. Striations along bedrock indicate direction of ice movement.






22. A valley caused by extension of the Earth's crust. Its floor forms as a portion of the crust moves downward along normal faults.






23. A molecule composed of three atoms of oxygen and mostly found in the stratosphere. Though beneficial in the upper atmosphere & at ground level & ozone is called photochemical smog & and is a respiratory irritant and considered a pollutant.






24. The formation & advance and retreat of glaciers and the results of these activities.






25. The direction & north (normal) or south (reversed) & that a magnetic compass needle points.






26. Sediment formed by chemical precipitation from water. Example: halite precipitated as the result of the evaporation of sea water.






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






28. The innermost zone of Earth. It consists of two parts & an outer liquid section and an inner solid section & both chiefly of iron and nickel with about 10 percent lighter elements. It is surrounded by the mantle.






29. Where two plates collide to form mountains.






30. The dust-sized & sharp-edged & glassy particles resulting from an explosive volcanic eruption.






31. Swamp that forms in the low lying flood plain behind a levee.






32. Where one plate slides beneath another plate as the two are pushed together & a subduction zone.






33. The uprush of a wave onto the beach followed by the return flow of the water down the beach slope in the intervals between waves.






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






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






36. He area from which a stream and its tributaries receives its water.






37. 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.






38. 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.






39. 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.






40. 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 .






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






42. The theory that states that the present-day continents are the fragmented pieces of preexisting larger landmasses called supercontinents.






43. 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.






44. A flood that rises and falls very rapidly.






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






46. Of or relating to or containing basalt & a dark & dense & extrusive rock that has a silica content of 40% to 50% and makes up most of the ocean floor.






47. The amount of dissolved salt in water.






48. Plutonic. Antonym of extrusive. Pertaining to igneous rocks or features formed by the emplacement of magma in pre-existing rocks.






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






50. Either the northern or southern half of the Earth as divided by the equator & or the eastern or western half as divided by a meridian.