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 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.






2. By melting - dissolving - or other chemical reactions.






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






4. Core division; between 2900 and 5155km deep. Liquid iron alloy - it exists as a liquid because the temperature here is so high that even the great pressures squeezing the region cannot lock atoms into a solid framework. This liquid iron alloy is able






5. Distinct internal laminations within a ripple or dune that are inclined at an angle to the boundary of the main sedimentary layer. Form as a consequence of the evolution of dunes or ripples.






6. 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






7. Consists of rock and sediment that has been modified by physical and chemical interaction with organic material and rainwater - over time - to produce a substrate that can support the growth of plants.






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






9. Type of rock; accumulated sand bars - within are mineral grains of quartz and feldspar - this sediment if buried and lithified.






10. If a stoped block does not melt entirely - but rather becomes surrounded by new igneous rock - it becomes this; xeno - meaning foreign.






11. Magma type; contains about 45% to 52% silica. Named because it produces rock containing abundant mafic minerals - magnesium and iron combinations.






12. An insulated - tunnel-like conduit through which lava moves within a flow.






13. A plate boundary at which two plates move toward one another so that one plate sinks beneath the other. Subduction zones; Engage the sinking process known as subduction - between plates - consuming old oceanic lithosphere due to high density. Can sim






14. The resistance to flow of magma. Reflects its distinct silica content - for silica tends to polymerize - meaning it links up to form long - chainlike molecules whose presence slows down the flowing ability of magma. Thus felsic magmas flow less easil






15. Distinguishing feature of magma; the process where magma changes composition as it cools because formation and sinking of crystals preferentially remove certain atoms from the magma.






16. 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.






17. Cause of melting; the variation in temperature with depth is expressed in the geotherm; because pressure prevents melting - a decrease in pressure can permit melting. Specifically - if the pressure affecting hot mantle rock decreases while the temper






18. Rocks that forms by the freezing of lava above ground - after it spills out (extrudes) onto the surface of the Earth and comes into contact with the atmosphere or ocean.






19. Mineral class; the fundamental component within these types of minerals in the Earth's crust is the silicon-oxygen tetrahedron anionic group - a silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms that are arranged to define the corners of a tetrahedron - a






20. Process where new divergent boundaries form when a continent splits and separates into two continents.






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






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






23. 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.






24. Volcanoes that exist as isolated points and appear to be independent of movement at a plate boundary - hot-spot volcanoes. Mostly are located on the interior of plates - away from boundaries.






25. Created from preexisting rocks which undergo changes - such as the growth of new minerals in response to pressure and heat - and/or as a result of squashing - stretching - or shear.






26. The burial and lithification of angular or rounded clasts form these types of rocks.






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






28. Solids composed of metal atoms (such as iron - aluminum - copper - and tin). Within this type of solid - outer electrons are able to flow freely.






29. Type of igneous rock composition; composed of dark silicates and calcium-rich feldspar - referred to as mafic (magnesium and iron). Make up the ocean floor/volcanic islands.






30. Sedimentary rock consisting of cemented together solid fragments and grains derived from preexisting rocks.






31. Heat from an intense surface fire bakes and expands the outer layer of the rock. On cooling - the layer contracts - causing the outer part of the rock spall - or break off in sheet-like pieces.






32. Carbon-containing compounds that either occur in living organisms - or have characteristics that resemble the molecules within living organisms. Examples - oil - protein - plastic - fat - and rubber.






33. The display of the pattern of atoms or ions within a mineral. Meaning that the shape of one part of a mineral is a mirror image of the shape of another part.






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






35. Layering in metamorphic rocks.






36. Layering in sedimentary rocks.






37. Type of soil; forms from sediment that has been carried in from elsewhere. Include those formed from deposits left by rivers - glaciers - or wind.






38. An ultramafic rock with large grains. intrusive - phaneritic igneous rock.






39. Mineral group; olivine group - pyroxene group - amphibole group.






40. Coarse pyroclastic debris - apple to refrigerator-sized fragments. Chunks of preexisting igneous rock or large lava blobs which discharge from volcanic eruptions.






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






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






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






44. 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.






45. Distinguishing feature of magma; the composition of the melt reflects the composition of the solid from which it was derived. Not all magmas form from the same source rock - therefore not all magmas have the same compositions.






46. Actively slipping segment of a fracture zone between two ocean ridge segments - these faults make a third type of plate boundary - transforms.






47. A cut and finished stone ready to be used in jewelry. Examples - diamond - ruby - sapphire - emerald.






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






49. Some rock bodies appear to contain distinct formations - defined either by bands of different compositions or textures - or by the alignment of inequant grains so that they trend parallel to one another.






50. 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