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 volcano that is composed of alternating layers of lava and pyroclastic material & along with abundant dikes and sills. Viscous & intermediate lava may flow from a central vent. Example: Mt. Fuji in Japan.






2. Property possessed by certain rocks of breaking with relative ease along parallel planes or nearly parallel surfaces in their crystal structures where the bonds are weakest.






3. The portion of the continental margin that extends as a gently sloping surface from the shoreline seaward to a marked change in slope at the top of the continental slope . Seaward depth averages about 130 m.






4. The top of a wave.






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






6. The processes (mechanical and chemical) responsible for the wearing away & loosening & and dissolving of materials of the Earth's crust.






7. All unconsolidated materials above bedrock. Natural earthy materials on the Earth's surface & in places modified or even made by human activity & containing living matter & and supporting or capable of supporting plants out of doors.






8. A disease-causing organism or entity & such as a bacterium or virus.






9. In the geologic time scale a unit of time less than an era and greater than an epoch. Example: The Tertiary period was the earliest period in the Cenozoic era and included & among others & the Eocene epoch.






10. The zone below the zone of aeration in which all pore spaces are filled with water.






11. A flat & dry plain covered with short grass.






12. A unit of length used in sea navigation based on the length of 1 minute of arc on a great circle. On Earth & 1 minute of latitude.






13. Water that flows across watersheds during and immediately after severe rainstorms. In populated areas & stormwater runoff is often water that cannot be handled by existing sewer systems. Stormwater runoff is the leading source of water pollution in t






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






15. The distance light travels through a vacuum in one year.






16. A sedimentary rock composed primarily of biogenic sediments.






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






18. The two days of the year on which the noon sun is directly overhead at either 23.5






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






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






21. A narrow & elongate region in which one lithospheric plate descends relative to another.






22. The surface between the zone of saturation and the zone of aeration.






23. Heat transport by moving particles & and the thermal energy that they carry & to a new location.






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






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






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






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






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






29. 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






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






31. 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






32. A collection of maps.






33. A thick layer of soil.






34. A chuck of rock or dust in space.






35. An individual grain or constituent of a rock.






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






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






38. The region of a shore that is covered at high tide and exposed at low tide.






39. A steep or vertical cliff & either above or below sea level.






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






41. A general term for a relatively hard layer of soil at or just below the ground surface & cemented by silica & iron oxide & calcium carbonate & or organic matter.






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






43. Uranus is named after the Roman god of the sky. It is the seventh planet from the Sun.






44. A process of land degradation initiated by human activity & particularly in the zones along the margins of deserts.






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






46. The relationship between distances in the area being mapped and distances in the map itself.






47. Banks of sand and silt along stream bank built by deposition in small increments during successive floods.






48. The physical & chemical & and biological processes by which rock at or near the Earth's surface is broken down into smaller pieces.






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






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