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. Mineral crystal formation type; form by type of diffusion - the movement of atoms or ions through a solid to arrange into a new crystal structure; process takes place very slowly.






2. A reference to the pattern structure of a mineral. A material in which atoms are fixed in an orderly pattern - a crystalline solid.






3. After sand has lost its feldspar composition due to weathering over time - sediment composed entirely of quartz grains gets buried and lithified to form this type of rock.






4. When water is trapped in a joint freezes - it forces the joint open and may cause the joint to grow.






5. Materials that easily transform into gas at the relatively low temperatures found at the Earth's surface.






6. Rock made by the freezing of magma underground - after it has pushed its way (intruded) into preexisting rock of the crust.






7. 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






8. An organic sedimentary rock; black - combustible rock consisting of over 50% carbon.






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






10. The speed of the movements of the plates with respect to the speed of the other plates' movements. Absolute plate velocity is a measure of the movement of any plates relative to a fixed point in the mantle.






11. Measure of pressure or push in units of force - per unit area. 1 atm = 1.04 kilograms per square centimeter.






12. Type of lava flow; higher silica content - greater viscosity - forms a large mound above the vent out of a volcano.






13. Physical property of a mineral; refers to the shape (morphology) of a single crystal with well-formed crystal faces - or to the character of an aggregate of many well-formed crystals that grew together as a group. Depends on the internal arrangement






14. Process occurring in arid climates - dissolved salt in groundwater precipitates and grows as crystals in open pore spaces in rocks. This process pushes apart the surrounding grains and so weakens the rock that when exposed to wind or rain - the rock






15. Aggregates of mineral crystals or grains - and masses of natural glass; a coherent - naturally occurring solid - consisting of an aggregate of minerals or a mass of glass.






16. Clast size - clast composition - angularity and sphericity - sorting - and character of cement.






17. A pluton formation theory; a process during Which magma assimilates wall rock - and blocks of wall rock break off and sink into the magma.






18. Hot basaltic lava that erupts with such low viscosity that it can flow tens to hundreds of kilometers across the landscape.






19. Physical features of the land surface represented by changes in elevation.






20. Perhaps the cause for the large igneous provinces; formations within the mantle - plumes that bring up vastly more hot asthenosphere than normal plumes.






21. Mineral class; the anion within these types of minerals is a halogen ion (such as chlorine or fluorine).






22. A process occurring when sea level falls - the coast migrates seaward.






23. Biochemical sedimentary rock; it's made from cryptocrystalline quartz. Examples - flint and jasper.






24. Type of magma; low in silica - fluid - crystallize at high temperatures.






25. Mineral crystal formation type; form at interfaces between the physical and biological components of the Earth system by this process.






26. Type of lava flow; the most viscous of any lava flow because it is the most silicic and the coolest in nature. Tends to accumulate in a lava dome above the vent or in short and bulbous flows 1 to 2 km long.






27. Mineral group; feldspars - quartz - muscovite - clay minerals.






28. Rocks which develop when hot molten rock cools and freezes solid.






29. Type of volcano; broad and slightly domed - primarily made of basaltic lava - large and erupt large volumes of lava. Form from either low viscosity basaltic lava or from large pyroclastic sheets.






30. Forms a 2885-km-thick layer surrounding the core. In terms of volume - it is the largest part of the Earth. It consists entirely of ultramafic rock - peridotite.






31. A rock made of solid mass of glass - or of tiny crystals surrounded by glass. Reflect light as glass does and tend to break conchoidally. Examples - obsidian - tachylite - pumice.






32. Volcanic landform; bulbous mass of congealed lava - associated with explosive eruptions of gas-rich magma.






33. Layering in metamorphic rocks.






34. Physical property of a mineral; refers to the way a mineral surface scatters light. Metallic versus non-metallic in nature.






35. Forms when clots of lava fly into the air in lava fountains and then freeze to form solid chunks before hitting the ground. Some forms when the explosion of a volcano shatters preexisting rock and ejects the fragments over the countryside.






36. Built up deposit of volcanic bombs and lapilli - known as volcanic agglomerate.






37. A type of carbonate rock; rocks formed from the calcite or aragonite skeletons of organisms form this biochemical sedimentary rock.






38. Rocks whose crystals interlock with each other.






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






40. Natural cracks that form in rocks due to removal of overburden or due to cooling.






41. Lava flowing on dry land cools more slowly that lava erupting underwater.






42. Physical property of a mineral; results from the way a mineral interacts with light. A mineral absorbs certain wavelengths - so the color seen represents the color wavelengths the mineral did not absorb.






43. The boundary between two beds is a bedding plane; several beds constitute this structure.






44. The most important mineral group; comprise the most rock-forming minerals - they are very abundant due to large % of silicon and oxygen in Earth's crust. Examples - oxygen - silica - aluminum.






45. Refers to the proportions of different chemicals making up the rock - and thus the proportion chemicals affects the proportions of different minerals constituting the rock.






46. The way in which the atoms are packed together within a mineral by chemical bonds. Five difference types of bonding can occur - covalent - ionic - metallic - Van der Waal's - and hydrogen.






47. Physical property of a mineral; different minerals fracture in different ways - depending on the internal arrangement of atoms. If a mineral breaks to form distinct planar surfaces that have a specific orientation in relation to the crystal structure






48. Refers to the arrangement of grains in a rock; that is - the way the grains connect each other and whether inequant grains are aligned parallel to one another.






49. 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






50. The angle between the direction that a compass needle points at a given location and the direction of the 'true' (geographic) north. Through this process - the magnetic poles never stray more than 15 degrees of latitude from the geographic pole.