Test your basic knowledge |

Subject : science
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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  • Match each statement with the correct term.
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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 fine spray of lava instantly freezes to form fine particles of glass.






2. Sea-floor spreading proponents - Hess and others realized that in order for the circumference of the Earth to remain constant through time - ocean floor must eventually sink back into the mantle. This sinking process consumes the ocean floor between






3. The crust moves away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge axis at a rate of 1cm per year. This velocity of sea-floor spreading is determined by the relationship between the paleomagnetic anomaly-stripe's width and the reverse polarity duration - the data reve






4. Refers to the chemical reactions that alter or destroy minerals when rock comes in contact with water solutions or air.






5. Outer surface level of Earth; composed of granite - basalt - and gabbro. Continental: mostly about 35-40km thick . Oceanic: about 7-10km thick. Oxygen - by far the most abundant element.






6. Natural bond connecting rocks; mineral material that precipitates from water and fills the space between grains.






7. The layering nature of sedimentary rocks - surface features of layers formed during deposition - and the arrangement of grains within layers.






8. A term used for all the physical - chemical - and biological processes that transform sediment into sedimentary rock and that alter characteristics of sedimentary rock one the rock has formed.






9. Distinguishing feature of magma; the process where magma sits in a magma chamber before completely solidifying - it may incorporate chemicals derived from the walls rocks of the chamber.






10. A mafic rock with large grains. Intrusive - phaneritic igneous rock.






11. Iron (35%) - oxygen (30%) - silicon (15%) - and magnesium (10%) - and the remaining 10% consists of 88 naturally occurring elements.






12. Forms from a chemical reaction between solid calcite and magnesium-bearing groundwater.






13. Rigid outer layer of Earth - 100-150km thick. Consists of the crust plus the uppermost part of the mantle.






14. Rocks with a fragmental texture consist of igneous fragments that are packed together - welded together - or cemented together after having solidified. Examples - pyroclastic rocks such as tuff or breccia.






15. During this process - water chemically reacts with minerals and breaks them down - working faster in slightly acidic water.






16. Sedimentary rock composed of quartz.






17. A nearly horizontal - tabletop-shaped tabular intrusion - parallel to layering within the earth.






18. The freely pivoting up and down compass needle's angle of tilt relative to the location upon the Earth's surface. At the equator - the specialized magnetic needle would position horizontally and at a magnetic pole it would point straight down.






19. Similar to ripples - but are much larger. Small ripples often form on the surface of these structures.






20. Layer that lies below the lithosphere - and is the portion of the mantle in which rock can flow (slowly; 10-15cm per year) despite still being solid. Entirely within the mantle and lies below a depth of 100-150km.






21. Chemical weathering during Which minerals dissolve into water.






22. Inorganic limestone; rock composed of crystalline calcium carbonate formed by chemical precipitation.






23. A reaction during which an element loses electrons - commonly takes place when elements combine with oxygen.






24. Fracture type; smoothly curving - clamshell-shaped surfaces; typically formed in quartz.






25. Process that occurs after the sediment has been buried - pressure cause by the overburden squeezes out water and air that had been trapped between clasts - and the clasts press together tightly.






26. The record of paleomagnetism revealed that the location of Earth's magnetic poles had been changing through geologic time. This 'wandering' meant that Earth's magnetic poles do not move with respect to fixed continents. Rather - continents move relat






27. Highest soil horizon; consists almost entirely of organic matter and contains barely any mineral matter. Surface level has 'litter' and deeper it contains 'humus'. Part of the zone of leaching.






28. Rock formations still attached to the Earth's crust.






29. The distance of the deepest well ever drilled - hole in northern Russia. Penetrates only about 0.03% of the Earth.






30. The four classes of igneous silicate rocks based on the proportion of silicon to iron and magnesium. As the proportion of silicon in a rock increases - the density decreases - thus felsic rocks are less dense than mafic. In order - from greatest to l






31. In degrees Celsius - the high temperatures at which igneous rocks freeze; the freezing of liquid melt to form solid igneous rock represents the same phenomenon as the freezing of water - except at much higher temperatures.






32. Form from grains that break off preexisting rock and become cemented together - or from minerals that precipitate out of a water solution.






33. Refers to the processes that break up and corrode solid rock - eventually transforming it into sediment. Physical and chemical variations.






34. A type of soil consisting of about 10-30% clay and the rest silt and sand. Pores remain between grains so that water and air can pass through and roots can easily penetrate.






35. Chemical precipitates; salt deposits formed as a consequence of evaporation. Examples - rock salt and gypsum.






36. Occurs within the asthenosphere - actively drags plates along and attributes partially for the mechanism shifting the plates along the Earth's surface.






37. When silt and clay accumulate in the flat areas bordering a stream - lagoon - or delta - the silt when lithified becomes this type of sediment. And the mud - when lithified - becomes another type of sediment - also known as shale.






38. A column of very hot rock that flows upward until it reaches the base of the lithosphere. In this model - such deep-mantle plumes form because heat rising from the Earth's core is warming rock at the base of the mantle. A possible explanation to the






39. A solid in which atoms are not arranged in an orderly pattern. Forms when a liquid freezes so fast that atoms do not have time to organize into an orderly pattern.






40. The distance that the world's deepest mine-shaft penetrates into the Earth beneath South Africa.






41. Mineral crystal formation type; form from a solidification of a melt - meaning the freezing of a liquid.






42. The transformation of loose sediment into solid rock.






43. A vent at Which melt from inside the Earth spews onto the planet's surface. Erupt.






44. The supercontinent; existence proposed by Wegener - suggested that the supercontinent later fragmented into separate continents that then drifted apart - moving slowly to their present positions.






45. A linear belt in which continental lithosphere pulls apart - the lithosphere stretches horizontally.






46. The absorption of water into the crystal structure of minerals - causes some minerals to expand.






47. Active hot-spot volcanoes commonly occur at the end of a chain of dead volcanoes.






48. Magma type; contains only about 38% to 45% silica. Extreme form of mafic magma.






49. Type of volcanic eruption; pyroclastic - produce clouds and avalanches of pyroclastic debris. Gas expands in the rising magma - cannot escape. The pressure becomes so great that it blasts the lava - and volcanic rock - out of the volcano.






50. On a gem are the ground and polished surfaces made with a certain type of machine.