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. Refers to rock or sediments made up primarily of broken fragments of pre-existing rocks or minerals.






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






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






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






5. A natural open space underground & large enough for a person to enter. Most commonly occur by the dissolution of soluble rocks & generally limestone.






6. Open pit mining & typically for coal.






7. A conical volcano formed by the accumulation of pyroclastic debris around a vent.






8. 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.






9. A substance that produces negatively charged hydroxide ions ( OH- ) in water and reacts with acids to form salts.






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






11. The production of living matter by organisms that make food using sunlight or chemicals. Usually expressed as grams of carbon per square meter per year.






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






13. A sea wave produced by any large-scale & short duration disturbance on the seafloor & commonly a shallow submarine earthquake but possibly also a submarine slide or volcanic eruption.






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






15. An astronomical instrument for measuring angles & primarily altitude of celestial bodies to determine latitude.






16. Any accumulation of material & by settling from water or air & chemical precipitation & evaporation from solution & etc.






17. 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.






18. The dust-sized & sharp-edged & glassy particles resulting from an explosive volcanic eruption.






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






20. Bent rock strata.






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






22. The internal resistance to flow in a liquid.






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






24. 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.






25. A measure of the strength of an earthquake based on the amount of movement recorded by a seismograph . compare Richter scale.






26. Destruction of the ozone layer caused by the release of CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) into the atmosphere which react chemically with ozone and break it down into different gases.






27. 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.






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






29. The elevation at which snow persists throughout the year.






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






31. The amount of material a stream carries in suspension.






32. A small & dust-bearing whirlwind.






33. The method of locating an epicenter by determining how far it lies from three widely separated seismographs.






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






35. Deposits of wind-borne dust.






36. 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.






37. Weathering processes that are the result of chemical reactions. Example: the transformation of orthoclase to kaolinite.






38. A rock that has crystallized from a molten state.






39. The way in which a rock or mineral breaks in random patterns rather than cleaving






40. A planetary satellite.






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






42. 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.






43. That portion of the resources for a valuable mineral commodity that can be extracted from the Earth at a profit today.






44. A method of sediment transport in which the turbulence of a fluid is able to keep particles supported in the fluid.






45. A comet that passed Earth in 1997 and won't return to the inner solar system until the year 4377.






46. A substance that produces positively charged hydrogen ions (H+) when dissolved in water.






47. A molecule composed of three atoms of oxygen and mostly found in the stratosphere. Though beneficial in the upper atmosphere & at ground level & ozone is called photochemical smog & and is a respiratory irritant and considered a pollutant.






48. One of several rock-forming minerals that contain at least 95% silica (quartz). and usually one or more other common elements.






49. A sedimentary rock composed of combustible matter derived from the partial decomposition of plant material.






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