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 mudflow composed chiefly of pyroclastic material on the flanks of a volcano.






2. 1. A mass of sand & gravel & or alluvium deposited on the bed of a stream & sea & or lake & or at the mouth of a stream 2. A unit of pressure & approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level.






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






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






5. A roughly circular reef with an occasional small & low & coral sand island surrounding a shallow lagoon.






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






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






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






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






10. An instrument used to measure the speed of wind.






11. Saturn is named after the Roman god of the harvest. It is the sixth planet from the Sun.






12. An informal term to include all geologic time from the beginning of the Earth to the beginning of the Cambrian period 570 million years ago.






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






14. A vent in the surface of the Earth & from which lava & ash & and gases erupt.






15. A commonly used scale of earthquake intensity.






16. The area bordering a stream over which water spreads when the stream tops its channel banks.






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






18. A slide involving a downward and usually sudden movement of newly detached segments of bedrock sliding or slipping over an inclined surface of weakness such as a bedding plane & fault plane & or joint surface.






19. A planetary satellite.






20. The point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the focus of an earthquake.






21. 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.






22. 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.






23. A naturally occurring inorganic solid that has a well-defined chemical composition and in which atoms are arranged in an ordered fashion.






24. 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.






25. The prediction that climate will warm as a result of the addition to the atmosphere of humanly produced greenhouse gases.






26. A famous scientist who proposed that the Sun was the center of the solar system not the Earth. (Heliocentrism)






27. The oldest eon in Earth history & extending from the origin of the Earth to about 3.9 billion years ago.






28. Evidence in rock of the presence of past life & such as a dinosaur bone & an ancient clam shell & or the footprint of a long-extinct animal as well as life history artifacts.






29. The area immediately below the ground surface within which pore spaces are partially filled with water and partially filled with air.






30. Highly mafic igneous volcanic rock & typically fine-grained and dark in color; rough volcanic equivalent of gabbro. Basalt is the most abundant volcanic rock in the Earth's crust.






31. Pertaining to or composed of granite & a coarse-grained igneous rock dominated by light-colored minerals & consisting of about 50 percent orthoclase & 25 percent quartz & and balance of feldspars and ferromagnesian silicates. Granite is commonly foun






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






33. Till deposited from main body of glacier during ablation.






34. A segment of an active fault zone that has not experienced a major earthquake during a time period when most other segments of the zone have. They are generally regarded as having a higher potential for future earthquakes.






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






36. A rock changed from its original form and/or composition by heat & pressure &shearing stress & or chemically active fluids & or some combination of them.






37. Heat transport by direct transfer of energy from one particle to another & without moving the particle to a new location.






38. The process by which a binding & or cementing & agent is precipitated in spaces among individual particles of a deposit. Common cementing agents are calcite & quartz & and dolomite.






39. A layer of sedimentary rock; plural is strata.






40. Till deposited from main body of glacier during ablation.






41. All of space and everything in it.






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






43. An accumulation of wind driven sand into a distinctive shape.






44. Pluto is named after the Roman god of the Underworld. No longer considered a planet.






45. The elevation at which snow persists throughout the year.






46. The outermost part of the core. It is liquid & about 1 &700 km thick & and separated from the inner & solid core by a transition zone about 565 km thick.






47. 1. A steep-walled & usually conical depression at the summit or on the flanks of a volcano & resulting from the explosive ejection of material from a vent. 2. A bowl-shaped depression with a raised & overturned rim produced by the impact of a meteori






48. The elevation at which snow persists throughout the year.






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






50. The reflection of light on a given mineral's surface & classified by intensity and quality.