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






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






3. The vertical distance between the crest and adjacent trough of a wave.






4. A tool for measuring the relative clarity of water.






5. Mercury is named after the Roman messenger of the gods. It is the closest to the Sun.






6. A commonly used measure of earthquake magnitude & based on a logarithmic scale. Each integral step on the scale represents a tenfold increase in the extent of ground shaking & as recorded on a seismograph.






7. 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.






8. A chuck of rock or dust in space.






9. 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'.






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






11. An area in which a large number of windmills have been erected to generate electrical power.






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






13. 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






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






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






16. The southern portion of the late Paleozoic supercontinent known as Pangea. It means & literally 'Land of the Gonds' (a people of the Indian subcontinent).The supercontinent existed from Cambrian to Jurassic time & mainly composed of South America &






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






18. The processes (mechanical and chemical) responsible for the wearing away & loosening & and dissolving of materials of the Earth's crust.






19. An area of land that delivers runoff water & sediment & and dissolved substances to surface water bodies & such as rivers or lakes. All watersheds consist of boundaries & a basin and collection areas.






20. A sedimentary rock composed of combustible matter derived from the partial decomposition of plant material.






21. A coral reef separated from the mainland by a lagoon.






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






23. The way in which a rock or mineral breaks in random patterns rather than cleaving






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






25. A flat & dry plain covered with short grass.






26. 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.






27. Objects revolving around the sun that are too small and too numerous to be considered planets.






28. The Sun with all the celestial bodies that revolve around it.






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






30. A fracture or zone of fractures along the boundaries of tectonic plates where movement has taken place.






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






32. Living parts of the environment that can renew or replace themselves.






33. A division of geologic time next smaller than the eon and larger than a period. Example: The Paleozoic era is in the Phanerozoic eon and includes & among others & the Devonian period.






34. A ball of ice and dust & whose orbit is a long & narrow ellipse.






35. A process of land degradation initiated by human activity & particularly in the zones along the margins of deserts.






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






37. A post of dripstone growing up from a cave floor.






38. 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.






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






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






41. A geometrical form taken by a mineral & giving external expression to orderly internal atomic arrangement.






42. The explosion of a dying giant or supergiant star.






43. 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






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






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






46. The low spot between two successive waves.






47. The process by which an unconsolidated deposit of sediments is converted in to solid rock.






48. A coral reef separated from the mainland by a lagoon.






49. Materials that are found in nature that are useful or necessary for people to live.






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