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. Distance over which wave-forming winds blow.






2. Any solid material that has settled out of a state of suspension in liquid.






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






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






5. A naturally occurring inorganic solid that has a well-defined chemical composition and in which atoms are arranged in an ordered fashion.






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






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






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






9. A famous scientist who proposed that the Sun was the center of the solar system not the Earth. (Heliocentrism)






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






11. An individual grain or constituent of a rock.






12. 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.






13. A statement of relative age in layered rocks: In a series of sedimentary rocks that has not been overturned & the topmost layer is always the youngest and the bottommost layer is always the oldest.






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






15. An eon of geologic time extending from about 3.9 billion years to 2.5 billion years ago.






16. A large amount of gas and dust in space & spread out in an immense volume.






17. A reverse fault on which the dip angle of the fault plane is 15 degrees or less.






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






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






20. The attractive force between two objects; its magnitude depends on their masses and the distance between them.






21. A flood that rises and falls very rapidly.






22. An atmospheric shield providing the Earth with protection from ultra-violet rays which can cause sun burn & skin cancer and the destruction of the delicate plant life which supports the planet's food chain.






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






24. A floating ice sheet extending across water from a land-based glacier.






25. The rock beneath the soil.






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






27. The top of a wave.






28. 1. A mass of sand & gravel & or alluvium deposited on the bed of a stream & sea & or lake & or at the mouth of a stream 2. A unit of pressure & approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level.






29. A seismic body wave that involves particle motion from side to side & perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. S-waves are slower than P-waves and cannot travel through a liquid.






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






31. An era of time during the Phanerozoic eon lasting from 245 million years ago to 66.4 million ago.






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






33. A vent in the surface of the Earth & from which lava & ash & and gases erupt.






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






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






36. Either the northern or southern half of the Earth as divided by the equator & or the eastern or western half as divided by a meridian.






37. Named after the Roman god of the sea. It is the eighth planet from the Sun.






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






39. The process by which a binding & or cementing & agent is precipitated in spaces among individual particles of a deposit. Common cementing agents are calcite & quartz & and dolomite.






40. Rock formed from the accumulation of sediment & Which may consist of fragments and mineral grains of varying sizes from pre-existing rocks & remains or products of animals and plants & the products of chemical action & or mixtures of these.






41. 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






42. The color of a mineral in its powdered form obtained from scraping a sample on a ceramic plate






43. To change back and forth uncertainly.






44. Any seismic wave that travels through the body of Earth & rather than along its surface.






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






46. 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.






47. The process of mountain building.






48. A process by which salts accumulate in soil.






49. Turbulent stream water flow down a steep gradient & but not as steep as in a waterfall.






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