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. 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.






2. Containing moisture.






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






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






5. The southern portion of the late Paleozoic supercontinent known as Pangea. It means & literally 'Land of the Gonds' (a people of the Indian subcontinent).The supercontinent existed from Cambrian to Jurassic time & mainly composed of South America &






6. Banks of sand and silt along stream bank built by deposition in small increments during successive floods.






7. The layer of gases (air) & that surrounds a planet or moon.






8. The point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.






9. The rise and fall of sea level caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon on the Earth.






10. 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






11. A layer of sedimentary rock; plural is strata.






12. The chronological sequence of units of Earth time.






13. A downward distortion or dimple in the water table that forms as a well pumps water faster than it can flow through the aquifer.






14. The relationship between distances in the area being mapped and distances in the map itself.






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






16. An instrument that detects & magnifies & and records vibrations of the Earth & especially earthquakes.






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






18. A steep-sided rounded extrusion of highly viscous lava squeezed out from a volcano and forming a dome-shaped or bulbous mass above and around the volcanic vent. The structure generally develops inside a volcanic crater.






19. 1. Breach in a natural levee . 2. Deep crevice or open fracture in glacier ice.






20. Imaginary lines on a map or globe that measure distance in degrees north or south of the equator. Latitude lines extend horizontally & from east to west on a globe.






21. Banks of sand and silt along stream bank built by deposition in small increments during successive floods.






22. 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.






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






24. Flat land covered with tall grass and wildflowers.






25. The transformation of a soil from a solid to a liquid state as the result of increased pore pressure.






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






27. A building that contains one or more telescopes.






28. An ingredient in a food or other substance that nourishes or promotes growth.






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






30. Distance over which wave-forming winds blow.






31. An eruption of lava that takes place from a fracture & usually without producing a cone.






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






33. The portion of the continental margin that extends as a gently sloping surface from the shoreline seaward to a marked change in slope at the top of the continental slope . Seaward depth averages about 130 m.






34. The accumulation of material in layers or beds.






35. Synonym of intrusive. Antonym of volcanic. Applies to igneous rocks formed beneath the surface of the Earth; typically with large crystals due to the slowness of cooling.






36. The primary division of geologic time which are & from oldest to youngest & the Hadean & Archean & Proterozoic & and Phanerozoic eons.






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






38. The processes of weathering by which physical actions such as frost wedging break down a rock into fragments & involving no chemical change.






39. Ratio between weight of given volume of material and weight of equal volume of pure water.






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






41. Deserts in zones of descending air between 25 degrees and 30 degrees north and south latitude.






42. Pluto is named after the Roman god of the Underworld. No longer considered a planet.






43. Similar to a groin but built to keep sand out of a harbor entrance.






44. 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.






45. A deposit of partly decayed plant remains in a very wet environment; marsh or swamp deposit of plant remains containing more than 50 percent carbon.






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






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






48. A coral reef attached directly to the mainland.






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






50. A sedimentary rock made up of chemical sediments. Example: rock salt.