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. The internal resistance to flow in a liquid.






2. The rock beneath the soil.






3. Where one plate slides beneath another plate as the two are pushed together & a subduction zone.






4. Gases (primarily water and carbon dioxide & but also a variety of sulfur and nitrogen compounds and gaseous hydrocarbons) that trap the Sun's heat in the atmosphere.






5. An instrument that merely indicates the occurrence of an earthquake.






6. 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.






7. The tendency of a moving object to continue in a straight line or a stationary object to remain in place.






8. A chuck of rock or dust in space.






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






10. The process of one plate descending beneath another.






11. The perpendicular or very steep descent of a stream.






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






13. Mountains & characterized by extensive folding and thrust faulting & that form at convergent plate boundaries on continents.






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






15. A valley caused by extension of the Earth's crust. Its floor forms as a portion of the crust moves downward along normal faults.






16. 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.






17. Where two plates collide to form mountains.






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






19. A small ice sheet.






20. A depression in the ground formed by the melting of a block of glacier ice buried or partially buried by drift.






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






22. The effect of water and carbon dioxide absorbing outgoing infrared radiation & raising a system's temperature. The term is generally used with reference to the Earth's temperature & although it can also be applied to other systems & such as greenhous






23. A ridge of high water associated with a hurricane and which floods over the shore .






24. A type of disintegration in which jointed rock is forced apart by the expansion of water as it freezes in fractures.






25. To change back and forth uncertainly.






26. The weak or 'soft' zone in the upper mantle just below the lithosphere & involved in plate movement and isostatic adjustments. It lies 70 to 100 km below the surface and may extend to a depth of 400 km.






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






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






29. A waterway from open ocean into a lagoon.






30. The resistance of a mineral to scratching & as measured by the Mohs scale.






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






32. The current geologic era & which began 66.4 million years ago and continues to the present.






33. Verifying assessments made from satellite data by doing direct & 'on-the ground' measurements.






34. The distance light travels through a vacuum in one year.






35. The pattern of water circulation from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean.






36. The great circle on the Earth's surface passing through The North and South Poles & which is considered 0 degrees longitude. The prime meridian passes through Greenwich & England & and is used as a reference point for measuring longitude east and w






37. A ridge of high water associated with a hurricane and which floods over the shore .






38. A study designed to collect critical data to be used for comparison or as a control in a later study.






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






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






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






42. Deposits of wind-borne dust.






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






44. The part of the crust that directly underlies the continents and continental shelves. Averages about 35 km in thickness & but may be over 70 km thick under largest mountain ranges.






45. The processes (mechanical and chemical) responsible for the wearing away & loosening & and dissolving of materials of the Earth's crust.






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. 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.






48. 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.






49. A supercontinent that existed from the the end of the Permian to the Jurassic & 300 to 200 million years ago & assembled from large continents like Euramerica & Gondwana & and Siberia & as well as smaller landmasses like the Cathaysian and Cimmerian






50. An aggregate of one or more minerals in varying proportions.