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






2. The presence of layers in some rocks caused by parallel alignment of minerals.






3. A broad & deep & generally straight furrow carved in bed rock by the abrasive action of debris embedded in a moving glacier. Larger and deeper than a glacial striation.






4. Igneous. Antonym of intrusive. Synonym of volcanic. Pertaining to igneous rocks or features formed from lava released on the Earth's surface.






5. The initial point within the Earth that ruptures in an earthquake & directly below the epicenter. The point within the Earth which is the center of an earthquake & at which strain energy is first released and converted to elastic wave energy.






6. Extending across a continent.






7. A post of dripstone growing up from a cave floor.






8. The solid innermost part of the core with a diameter of a little over 1 &200 km.






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






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






11. A system involving continuous interaction of the solid Earth & the atmosphere & the oceans and living things.






12. An isolated & steep-sided & rocky mass or island just offshore from a rocky headland & usually on a shore platform.






13. 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.






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






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






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






17. A fracture or zone of fractures along the boundaries of tectonic plates where movement has taken place.






18. A tool for measuring the relative clarity of water.






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






20. Plutonic. Antonym of extrusive. Pertaining to igneous rocks or features formed by the emplacement of magma in pre-existing rocks.






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






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






23. The straightening and/or deepening of a river channel.






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






25. The formation & advance and retreat of glaciers and the results of these activities.






26. Highly mafic igneous volcanic rock & typically fine-grained and dark in color; rough volcanic equivalent of gabbro. Basalt is the most abundant volcanic rock in the Earth's crust.






27. 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.






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






29. A supercontinent that existed from the Jurassic to Early Tertiary after splitting from Pangea; composed of Laurentia & Baltica & Avalonia & (modern North America & Scandinavia & Greenland & Western and Central Europe); eventually fragmented into Eur






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






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






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






33. Sediments produced directly by the life processes of plants or animals.






34. As applied to glacier ice & the process by which ice below the snow line is wasted by evaporation and melting.






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






36. The line that separates one drainage basin from another.






37. The Earth's crust underlying the ocean basins which is formed at mid-oceanic ridges. It is typically 5 to 10 kilometers thick composed of basalt.






38. Enormous & thick sheets of rock that are part of the Earth's upper mantle that move and adjoin each other along zones of seismic activity. Many tectonic plates extend underneath both continents and sea floor.






39. The very slow & generally continuous downslope movement of soil and debris under the influence of gravity.






40. Living in water.






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






42. A group of stars that appear to make a pattern in the sky. The Big Dipper is a constellation.






43. The areas of & in & or constituting a city.






44. A portable time keeper with a mechanism for ensuring accuracy and adjusting itself & used for determining longitude at sea.






45. 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.






46. 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






47. A system that uses a constellation of 24 satellites & their ground stations & and individual GPS receivers to accurately locate points on Earth.






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






49. The theory that states that the present-day continents are the fragmented pieces of preexisting larger landmasses called supercontinents.






50. That part of the continental margin that lies between the continental shelf and the continental rise. Slope relatively steep & 3o - 6o. The continental slope is underlain by crustal rocks of the continent.