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 commonly used measure of earthquake magnitude & based on a logarithmic scale. Each integral step on the scale represents a tenfold increase in the extent of ground shaking & as recorded on a seismograph.






2. The reserves of a valuable mineral commodity plus all other mineral deposits that may eventually become available & even those that are presumed to exist but have not yet been discovered and those that are not economically or technologically exploita






3. A waste material that contaminates air & water & or soil.






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






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






6. The condition of equilibrium & comparable to floating & of units of the lithosphere above the asthenosphere.






7. The line formed by the intersection of the axial plane of a fold with a bedding plane & marking where the bed shows its maximum curvature.






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






9. To preserve & or to avoid wasteful use.






10. Lacking in rainfall & very dry.






11. Extending across a continent.






12. 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.






13. The outermost layer of the Earth & varying in thickness from about 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the oceans & to 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) below the continents; represents less than 1 percent of the Earth's volume.






14. A worldwide change in sea level & such as caused by melting glaciers.






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






16. The arrangement of rock units in the proper chronological order from youngest to oldest.






17. The innermost zone of Earth. It consists of two parts & an outer liquid section and an inner solid section & both chiefly of iron and nickel with about 10 percent lighter elements. It is surrounded by the mantle.






18. The process of one plate descending beneath another.






19. Any object that revolves around another object in space.






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






21. He area from which a stream and its tributaries receives its water.






22. The amount of dissolved salt in water.






23. A giant structure that contains hundreds of billions of stars.






24. A large volume of dust-sized particles lifted high into the atmosphere.






25. A worldwide change in sea level & such as caused by melting glaciers.






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






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






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






29. The closest star to Earth besides the sun. It is approximately 4 light years away.






30. Pertaining to clastic material formed by volcanic explosion or aerial expulsion from a volcanic vent.






31. The process by which an unconsolidated deposit of sediments is converted in to solid rock.






32. Soil conditions prevailing in area whose mean annual temperature is 0o C.






33. Produced as a wave steepens and falls forward as the wave nears the shore.






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






35. A glaciated valley now flooded by the sea.






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






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






38. Lava extruded beneath water characterized by pillow shapes.






39. A planetary satellite.






40. 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.






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






42. The internal resistance to flow in a liquid.






43. A commonly used scale of earthquake intensity.






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






45. A sedimentary rock composed primarily of biogenic sediments.






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






47. A measure of acidity.






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






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






50. The area bordering a stream over which water spreads when the stream tops its channel banks.