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 type of thermal spring which ejects water intermittently with considerable force.






2. An atmospheric shield providing the Earth with protection from ultra-violet rays which can cause sun burn & skin cancer and the destruction of the delicate plant life which supports the planet's food chain.






3. 1. Breach in a natural levee . 2. Deep crevice or open fracture in glacier ice.






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






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






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






7. 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.






8. A giant structure that contains hundreds of billions of stars.






9. A natural open space underground & large enough for a person to enter. Most commonly occur by the dissolution of soluble rocks & generally limestone.






10. Turbulent stream water flow down a steep gradient & but not as steep as in a waterfall.






11. Destruction of the ozone layer caused by the release of CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) into the atmosphere which react chemically with ozone and break it down into different gases.






12. A method of sediment transport in which the turbulence of a fluid is able to keep particles supported in the fluid.






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






14. A collection of maps.






15. The amount of material a stream carries in suspension.






16. 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.






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






18. Water beneath the Earth's surface.






19. The low spot between two successive waves.






20. 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.






21. An instrument that detects & magnifies & and records vibrations of the Earth & especially earthquakes.






22. 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






23. The height of a place above sea level.






24. Lava extruded beneath water characterized by pillow shapes.






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






26. All of space and everything in it.






27. The part of the crust that directly underlies the continents and continental shelves. Averages about 35 km in thickness & but may be over 70 km thick under largest mountain ranges.






28. The geologic eon lying between the Archean and Phanerozoic eons & beginning about 2.5 billion years ago and ending about 0.57 billion years ago.






29. A comet that passed Earth in 1997 and won't return to the inner solar system until the year 4377.






30. The areas of & in & or constituting a city.






31. The chronological sequence of units of Earth time.






32. The relationship between distances in the area being mapped and distances in the map itself.






33. Deposits of wind-borne dust.






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






35. 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'.






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






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






38. A system involving continuous interaction of the solid Earth & the atmosphere & the oceans and living things.






39. The arrangement of rock units in the proper chronological order from youngest to oldest.






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






41. The sum of the processes that result in the wearing away or the progressive lowering of the Earth's surface by weathering & erosion & mass wasting & and transportation.






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






43. Ratio between weight of given volume of material and weight of equal volume of pure water.






44. One of several rock-forming minerals that contain at least 95% silica (quartz). and usually one or more other common elements.






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






46. The tendency of a moving object to continue in a straight line or a stationary object to remain in place.






47. A hole or basin cut into bedrock of a stream by the abrasive action of pebbles and sand swirled by turbulent stream flow.






48. A comet that passed Earth in 1997 and won't return to the inner solar system until the year 4377.






49. The persistence of wind-formed waves after wind ceases.






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