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. A valley carved by glacier erosion and whose cross-valley profile has steep sides and a nearly flat floor & suggestive of a large letter 'you'.






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






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






5. Large area of extremely flat ocean floor lying near a continent and generally over 4 km in depth.






6. The mass of an object divided by its volume.






7. The top of a wave.






8. A protective wall built offshore and usually parallel to the shore.






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






10. 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.






11. 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.






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






13. Mars is named after the Roman god of war. It is the fourth planet from the Sun.






14. A major drainage divide separating the drainage to one ocean from another.






15. A sharp bend & loop or turn in a stream's course. When abandoned & it is called a meander scar or an oxbow.






16. Where two plates collide to form mountains.






17. A stone or boulder & glacially transported from place of origin and left in an area of different bedrock composition.






18. 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.






19. The galaxy where Earth is located.






20. A hot & gaseous & self-luminous celestial body & as the Sun.






21. A sedimentary rock composed primarily of biogenic sediments.






22. Geologic time expressed in years before the present.






23. A mass of ice & formed by the recrystallization of snow & that flows forward & or has flowed at some time in the past.






24. A blanket of wind-driven sand with an upper surface about a meter above ground level.






25. Lacking in rainfall & very dry.






26. The level of light that penetrates through water.






27. A plate boundary in which plates on opposite sides of the boundary move past each other in opposite directions. The San Andreas fault of California is a good example.






28. A natural depression in the surface of the land caused by the collapse of the roof of a cavern or subterranean passage & generally occurring in limestone regions.






29. 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.






30. Mercury is named after the Roman messenger of the gods. It is the closest to the Sun.






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






32. Heat extracted from the Earth for use as an power source.






33. Surficial mining & in which the valuable rock is exposed by removal of overlying rock or soil.






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






35. Imaginary lines on a map or globe that measure distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian. Longitude lines extend vertically & from pole to pole on a globe.






36. An era of geologic time lasting from 570 to 245 million years ago.






37. A blanket of wind-driven sand with an upper surface about a meter above ground level.






38. The prediction that climate will warm as a result of the addition to the atmosphere of humanly produced greenhouse gases.






39. A vent on the seafloor from which hydrothermal fluids are emitted. Upon mixing with seawater and cooling & the fluids precipitate a cloud of fine-grained sulfide minerals that resembles a cloud of black smoke.






40. 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.






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






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






43. 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.






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






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






46. An instrument used to measure the speed of wind.






47. A person who makes maps.






48. To change back and forth uncertainly.






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






50. 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