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 measure of the strength of an earthquake based on the amount of movement recorded by a seismograph . compare Richter scale.






2. The Earth's crust underlying the ocean basins which is formed at mid-oceanic ridges. It is typically 5 to 10 kilometers thick composed of basalt.






3. 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.






4. A low & nearly flat accumulation of sediment deposited at the mouth of a river or stream & commonly triangular or fan-shaped.






5. Deposits of wind-borne dust.






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






7. A waterway from open ocean into a lagoon.






8. 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.






9. Occurs at the intersection of the water table with the ground surface.






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






11. Living on land.






12. The remains of an extremely massive star pulled into a small volume by the force of gravity.






13. Heat extracted from the Earth for use as an power source.






14. Water beneath the Earth's surface.






15. The accumulation of material in layers or beds.






16. The process of removing metal from ore.






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






18. The closest galaxy to the Milky way. It is approximately 2 million light-years away.






19. A sedimentary rock made up of chemical sediments. Example: rock salt.






20. Woodland that usually gets at least 100 inches of rain each year.






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






22. 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.






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






24. Flat land covered with tall grass and wildflowers.






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






26. A major drainage divide separating the drainage to one ocean from another.






27. 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.






28. The speed at which water flows.






29. Gases that can be dissociated by solar radiation & which releases chlorine & which in turn destroys ozone.


30. An imaginary circle around the earth that represents the halfway mark between the North and South Poles and establishes the boundary between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.






31. Deep steep-sided depression in the ocean floor caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath either other oceanic crust or continental crust.






32. The sudden fall of one or more large pieces of a rock from a cliff.






33. The study of earthquakes & and of the structure of the Earth by both natural and artificially generated seismic waves.






34. Occurs at the intersection of the water table with the ground surface.






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






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






37. In a stream & the volume of water passing through a channel in a given time.






38. A depression in the ground formed by the melting of a block of glacier ice buried or partially buried by drift.






39. 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






40. The study of earthquakes & and of the structure of the Earth by both natural and artificially generated seismic waves.






41. The sudden fall of one or more large pieces of a rock from a cliff.






42. Formed when an organism is flattened (compressed) and a thin film of organic material from its body is left in the rock.






43. Synonym of intrusive. Antonym of volcanic. Applies to igneous rocks formed beneath the surface of the Earth; typically with large crystals due to the slowness of cooling.






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






45. The distance light travels through a vacuum in one year.






46. The upper horizons in a soil & through which gravitational moisture travels & removing soluble decomposition products.






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






48. A type of disintegration in which jointed rock is forced apart by the expansion of water as it freezes in fractures.






49. A type of volcanic eruption characterized by nuees ardentes and the development of lava domes.






50. The height of a place above sea level.