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 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.






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






3. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






4. A detailed mathematical description of the cause-and-effect relationships between events that can be used to predict or explain other such events.






5. 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.






6. The very small particles of dirt & soot & and other pollutants that are present in the air.






7. The process by which ocean floors spread laterally from crests of main ocean ridges. As material moves laterally from the ridge & new material replaces it along the ridge crest by welling upward from the mantle.






8. A minor tremor that precedes an earthquake. An increase in seismicity may signal that a major release of strain energy is about to occur.






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






10. The low spot between two successive waves.






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






12. The remains of an extremely massive star pulled into a small volume by the force of gravity.






13. The theory of Plate Tectonics states that the Earth's crust is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small pieces floating on a semi-molten mantle.






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






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






16. 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.






17. The upper horizons in a soil & through which gravitational moisture travels & removing soluble decomposition products.






18. A soft compact calcite & CaCO3 & with varying amounts of silica & quartz & feldspar & or other mineral impurities & generally gray-white or yellow-white and derived chiefly from fossil seashells.






19. The galaxy where Earth is located.






20. A narrow strip of land along the margin of the ocean extending inland for a variable distance from low water mark.






21. Forms along a coast as wave erosion cuts through a headland.






22. 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.






23. A segment of an active fault zone that has not experienced a major earthquake during a time period when most other segments of the zone have. They are generally regarded as having a higher potential for future earthquakes.






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






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






26. A hole or basin cut into bedrock of a stream by the abrasive action of pebbles and sand swirled by turbulent stream flow.






27. Scratches & or small channels & gouged by glacier action. Occur on boulders & pebbles & and bedrock. Striations along bedrock indicate direction of ice movement.






28. An earthquake that follows and has its epicenter near a larger earthquake.






29. Geologic time expressed in years before the present.






30. Living parts of the environment that can renew or replace themselves.






31. 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.






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






33. In the geologic time scale a unit of time less than an era and greater than an epoch. Example: The Tertiary period was the earliest period in the Cenozoic era and included & among others & the Eocene epoch.






34. Any molten material that is extrusive or volcanic & or the rock that forms from a molten extrusive. Molten rock that flows at the Earth's surface.






35. The average weather conditions of an area over many years & as measured by temperature & wind speed & and precipitation.






36. A commonly used scale of earthquake intensity.






37. A large area with common features that set it apart from other areas.






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






39. A lake of lava & usually basaltic & in a volcanic caldera.






40. An area in which a large number of windmills have been erected to generate electrical power.






41. 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.






42. A flood that rises and falls very rapidly.






43. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






44. The oldest eon in Earth history & extending from the origin of the Earth to about 3.9 billion years ago.






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






46. The solid innermost part of the core with a diameter of a little over 1 &200 km.






47. 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.






48. The precipitation that runs directly off the surface to stream or body of standing water.






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






50. In a stream & the volume of water passing through a channel in a given time.