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 current geologic era & which began 66.4 million years ago and continues to the present.






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






3. 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.






4. A large area of flat or nearly flat land.






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






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






7. 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.






8. An instrument that merely indicates the occurrence of an earthquake.






9. A lake in an abandoned meander.






10. A thickened elevated region of Earth's crust that is mainly (but not entirely) above sea level.






11. The low spot between two successive waves.






12. A blanket of wind-driven sand with an upper surface about a meter above ground level.






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






14. A statement of relative age in layered rocks: In a series of sedimentary rocks that has not been overturned & the topmost layer is always the youngest and the bottommost layer is always the oldest.






15. 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.






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






17. Deserts formed by blocking moisture-bearing winds with mountain barriers.






18. A broad & mound-like mass of glacier ice that usually spreads radially outward from a central zone.






19. The dust-sized & sharp-edged & glassy particles resulting from an explosive volcanic eruption.






20. The level of light that penetrates through water.






21. 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.






22. The acidity in rain due to gases from internal combustion engines and coal- and oil-burning power plants.






23. 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.






24. 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.






25. A downward distortion or dimple in the water table that forms as a well pumps water faster than it can flow through the aquifer.






26. An aggregate of one or more minerals in varying proportions.






27. A sea wave produced by any large-scale & short duration disturbance on the seafloor & commonly a shallow submarine earthquake but possibly also a submarine slide or volcanic eruption.






28. The effect of water and carbon dioxide absorbing outgoing infrared radiation & raising a system's temperature. The term is generally used with reference to the Earth's temperature & although it can also be applied to other systems & such as greenhous






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






30. The great circle on the Earth's surface passing through The North and South Poles & which is considered 0 degrees longitude. The prime meridian passes through Greenwich & England & and is used as a reference point for measuring longitude east and w






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






32. Lies half way between the north and south magnetic poles.






33. Weathering processes that are the result of chemical reactions. Example: the transformation of orthoclase to kaolinite.






34. The partial or complete blocking from view of one object by another.






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






36. 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.






37. A region of high heat flow on the Earth's surface & thought to lie above a mantle plume .






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






39. Any natural concentration of a valuable material in the Earth's crust & whether that material can be extracted profitably or not.






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






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






42. A commonly used scale of earthquake intensity.






43. The accumulation of material in layers or beds.






44. A cavity in a lava & formed by the entrapment of a gas bubble during solidification of the lava.






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






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






47. 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.






48. The presence of layers in some rocks caused by parallel alignment of minerals.






49. 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.






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