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






2. 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.






3. To change back and forth uncertainly.






4. A community of plants and/or animals and its physical environment & regarded as a unit.






5. A substance that produces negatively charged hydroxide ions ( OH- ) in water and reacts with acids to form salts.






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






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






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






9. Molten rock & containing dissolved gases and suspended solid particles. At the Earth's surface & magma is known as lava.






10. Applies to igneous rocks that cool on the surface of the Earth & including beneath water; typically with small crystals due to the rapidity of cooling. Synonym of extrusive. Antonym of plutonic.






11. The process of mountain building.






12. An area where fresh water comes into contact with seawater & usually in a partly enclosed coastal body of water; a mix of fresh and salt water where the current of a stream meets the tides.






13. 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.






14. The two days of the year on which neither hemisphere is tilted toward or away from the sun.






15. Forms along a coast as wave erosion cuts through a headland.






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






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






18. 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.






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






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






21. Any molten material that is extrusive or volcanic & or the rock that forms from a molten extrusive. Molten rock that flows at the Earth's surface.






22. A chuck of rock or dust in space.






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






24. 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.






25. The color of a mineral in its powdered form obtained from scraping a sample on a ceramic plate






26. The height of a place above sea level.






27. The region of a shore that is covered at high tide and exposed at low tide.






28. An astronomical instrument for measuring angles & primarily altitude of celestial bodies to determine latitude.






29. A large ridge or mound-like structure within a body of water that is built by calcareous organisms such as corals & red algae & and bivalves.






30. 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.






31. Any accumulation of material & by settling from water or air & chemical precipitation & evaporation from solution & etc.






32. A thick layer of soil.






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






34. The green pigment in the cells of many plants that enables them to use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates in the process called photosynthesis.






35. Refers to rock or sediments made up primarily of broken fragments of pre-existing rocks or minerals.






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






37. The outermost layer of the Earth & varying in thickness from about 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the oceans & to 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) below the continents; represents less than 1 percent of the Earth's volume.






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 spring whose temperature is 6.5o C or more above mean annual air temperature.






40. The layer of gases (air) & that surrounds a planet or moon.






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






42. Uranus is named after the Roman god of the sky. It is the seventh planet from the Sun.






43. The level of light that penetrates through water.






44. 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.






45. 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.






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






47. That portion of the resources for a valuable mineral commodity that can be extracted from the Earth at a profit today.






48. A protective wall built offshore and usually parallel to the shore.






49. A process of erosion in which wind carries off particles of dust and sand.






50. The line that separates one drainage basin from another.