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. One of several rock-forming minerals that contain at least 95% silica (quartz). and usually one or more other common elements.






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






4. The process of one plate descending beneath another.






5. The rock beneath the soil.






6. 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.






7. Any place where bedrock is visible on the surface of the Earth.






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






9. A lake of lava & usually basaltic & in a volcanic caldera.






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






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






12. The concept of a sequence of events involving the formation & alteration & destruction and reformation of rocks as a result of geologic processes.






13. The generally dark & more or less stable part of the organic matter in a soil & so well decomposed that the original sources cannot be identified.






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






15. A pillar formed as a stalactite and stalagmite meet.






16. The remains of an extremely massive star pulled into a small volume by the force of gravity.






17. Where one plate slides beneath another plate as the two are pushed together & a subduction zone.






18. 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.






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






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






21. The processes of weathering by which physical actions such as frost wedging break down a rock into fragments & involving no chemical change.






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






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






24. A rock that has crystallized from a molten state.






25. Bent rock strata.






26. A waterway from open ocean into a lagoon.






27. 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.






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






29. 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.






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






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






32. The point on the Earth's surface where a magnetic needle points vertically downward (north magnetic pole) or vertically upward (south magnetic pole).






33. 1. A low & bowl-shaped area of land surrounded by higher lands. 2. any large depression in which sediments are deposited.






34. The environment where a particular plant or animal is normally found.






35. To wash or scrub away.






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






37. 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.






38. The transformation of a soil from a solid to a liquid state as the result of increased pore pressure.






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






40. That portion of the Earth below the crust and reaching to about 2 &780 km & where a transition zone of about 100 km thickness separates it from the core.






41. A permeable region of rock or soil through which ground water can move.






42. A general term including both oil and natural gas.






43. An area subject to dust storms & especially south central United States .






44. A guide to reading a map that typically contains distance scales & arrows indicating direction & and/or explanations of symbols used.






45. The top of a wave.






46. 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.






47. A Hawaiian term for a basaltic lava flow with a smooth & or ropy surface.






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






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






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