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. Imaginary lines on a map or globe that measure distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian. Longitude lines extend vertically & from pole to pole on a globe.






2. A hot & gaseous & self-luminous celestial body & as the Sun.






3. The attractive force between two objects; its magnitude depends on their masses and the distance between them.






4. A deposit of partly decayed plant remains in a very wet environment; marsh or swamp deposit of plant remains containing more than 50 percent carbon.






5. 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






6. 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.






7. The symbol used on a map to indicate directions & both cardinal and ordinal.






8. Lava extruded beneath water characterized by pillow shapes.






9. A narrow strip of land that has water on either side and connects two larger bodies of water.






10. A waste material that contaminates air & water & or soil.






11. A detailed mathematical description of the cause-and-effect relationships between events that can be used to predict or explain other such events.






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






13. Glacial drift composed of rock fragments that range from clay to boulder size and randomly arranged without bedding.






14. The resistance of a mineral to scratching & as measured by the Mohs scale.






15. A commonly used scale of earthquake intensity.






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






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






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






19. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






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






21. A coral reef attached directly to the mainland.






22. Any solid material that has settled out of a state of suspension in liquid.






23. The reserves of a valuable mineral commodity plus all other mineral deposits that may eventually become available & even those that are presumed to exist but have not yet been discovered and those that are not economically or technologically exploita






24. A large & basin-shaped volcanic depression & more or less circular in form. Typically steep-sided & found at the summit of a shield volcano.






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






26. 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.






27. A hydrocarbon (coal or petroleum) that can be extracted from the Earth for use as a fuel. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources.






28. A collection of maps.






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






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






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






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






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






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






35. The most recent eon of geologic time beginning 570 million years ago and continuing to the present.






36. 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.






37. 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.






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






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






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






41. A vent on the seafloor from which hydrothermal fluids are emitted. Upon mixing with seawater and cooling & the fluids precipitate a cloud of fine-grained sulfide minerals that resembles a cloud of black smoke.






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






43. 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.






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






45. A thick layer of soil.






46. A minor tremor that precedes an earthquake. An increase in seismicity may signal that a major release of strain energy is about to occur.






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






48. A mound or ridge of sediment deposited by a glacier.






49. A Hawaiian term for a lava flow that has a rough & jagged surface.






50. A narrow strip of land along the margin of the ocean extending inland for a variable distance from low water mark.