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. Geologic time expressed in years before the present.






2. A comet that passed Earth in 1997 and won't return to the inner solar system until the year 4377.






3. Any accumulation of material & by settling from water or air & chemical precipitation & evaporation from solution & etc.






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






5. Deposits of wind-borne dust.






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






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






8. A sea level change due to change in load on Earth's crust.






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






10. A chuck of rock or dust in space.






11. 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.






12. A wall built out from the shore & usually at perpendicular to it to trap sand carried by longshore currents .






13. An instrument that detects & magnifies & and records vibrations of the Earth & especially earthquakes.






14. A hole or basin cut into bedrock of a stream by the abrasive action of pebbles and sand swirled by turbulent stream flow.






15. A dense & hot (sometimes incandescent) cloud of volcanic ash and gas produced in a Pelean eruption.






16. The process by which ocean floors spread laterally from crests of main ocean ridges. As material moves laterally from the ridge & new material replaces it along the ridge crest by welling upward from the mantle.






17. A small ice sheet.






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






19. The process of one plate descending beneath another.






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






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






22. 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






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






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






25. An earthquake that follows and has its epicenter near a larger earthquake.






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






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






28. The process of mountain building.






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






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






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






32. 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.






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






34. Where two plates are moving in opposite directions as in a mid-ocean ridge.






35. The naturally occurring material from which a mineral or minerals of economic value can be extracted at a profit.






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






37. Sediment formed by chemical precipitation from water. Example: halite precipitated as the result of the evaporation of sea water.






38. 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.






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






40. A collection of maps.






41. 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.






42. A group of islands; an expanse of water with scattered islands.






43. 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.






44. To wash or scrub away.






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






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






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






48. The method of locating an epicenter by determining how far it lies from three widely separated seismographs.






49. A conical volcano formed by the accumulation of pyroclastic debris around a vent.






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