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. Long narrow beaches separated in many places from the mainland by lagoons.






2. 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.






3. 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.






4. 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.






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






6. Living in water.






7. The sudden fall of one or more large pieces of a rock from a cliff.






8. The closest galaxy to the Milky way. It is approximately 2 million light-years away.






9. Fossils formed when water containing minerals leaks into a mold. The minerals harden to form a copy of the original structure or organism.






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






11. The accumulation of material in layers or beds.






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






13. The perpendicular or very steep descent of a stream.






14. An imaginary circle around the earth that represents the halfway mark between the North and South Poles and establishes the boundary between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.






15. A delta formed at both sides of a tidal inlet.






16. 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






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






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






19. Any of various minerals prized for beauty & durability & and rarity. A few noncrystalline materials of organic origin (e.g. & pearl & red coral & and amber) also are classified as gemstones.






20. 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






21. In a stream & the volume of water passing through a channel in a given time.






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






23. Similar to a groin but built to keep sand out of a harbor entrance.






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






25. Bent rock strata.






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






27. A Hawaiian term for a lava flow that has a rough & jagged surface.






28. A river that is able to maintain its flow through a desert because of water received from outside the desert.






29. 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.






30. 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.






31. Flat land covered with tall grass and wildflowers.






32. 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.






33. A type of volcanic eruption characterized by nuees ardentes and the development of lava domes.






34. 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.






35. 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.






36. 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.






37. A landscape that develops from the action of ground water in areas of easily soluble rocks. It is usually characterized by caves & underground drainage and sinkholes.






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






39. Elongated rises on the ocean floor where basalt periodically erupts & forming new oceanic crust.






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






41. The persistence of wind-formed waves after wind ceases.






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






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






44. 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






45. 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.






46. A narrow & steep-walled depression in the ocean floor & much deeper than the adjacent ocean and associated with a subduction zone.






47. The distance between two successive wave crests or troughs.






48. The very small particles of dirt & soot & and other pollutants that are present in the air.






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






50. The pattern of water circulation from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean.