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. Chemical weathering occurring in warm - wet climates can produce a layer of rotten rock - over 100km thick.






2. A fine spray of lava instantly freezes to form fine particles of glass.






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






4. A name for any kind of unconsolidated debris that covers bedrock. Includes both soil and accumulations of sediment that have not evolved into soil.






5. 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






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






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






8. Soil section below the A-horizon; a soil level that has undergone substantial leaching but has not yet mixed with organic material. Because it lacks organic materials - this horizon tends to be lighter than the A-horizon. Part of the zone of leaching






9. When different rocks in an outcrop undergo weathering at different rates.






10. The removal of soil by running water or by wind.






11. Four settings: in volcanic arcs bordering deep-ocean trenches - isolated hot spots - within continental rifts - and along mid-ocean ridges.






12. Physical property of a mineral; refers to the color of a powder produced by pulverizing the mineral. Provides a fairly reliable clue to the mineral's identity - since the color of the mineral powder tends to be less variable than the color of the who






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






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






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






16. Low-viscosity (basaltic) lava flows out of a volcano easily - whereas high-viscosity (andesitic and rhyolitic) lava can clog and build pressure within a volcano. Basaltic eruptions are typically effusive and produce shield volcanoes - whereas rhyolit






17. The transformation of loose sediment into solid rock.






18. Equant - meaning that they have the same dimensions in all directions. Or inequant - meaning their dimensions are not the same in all directions.






19. 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.






20. 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.






21. 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.






22. Places with particularly voluminous quantities of magma erupting or intruding.






23. Mineral class; consist of a metal cation bonded to a sulfide anion. Examples - galena and pyrite. Many have a metallic luster. Can also be considered ores with high proportions of metal within the mineral.






24. Alfred Wegener's suggestion that the positions of the continents change through time as they drift away from each other. The flaw was that he lacked a plausible moving mechanism.






25. 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






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






27. Core division; from a depth of 5155km down to Earth's center at 6371km. A radius of about 1220km - is solid iron-nickel alloy - can reach temperature of 4700 degrees C. Solid in nature because of subjection to greater pressure - keeps atoms from wand






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






29. Contributes to formation of soil; occurs when rainwater percolates through the debris and carries dissolved ions and clay flakes downward - This is the region where the downward transport occurs.






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






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. During the final stages of cooling - lava flows contract and may fracture into roughly hexagonal columns.






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






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






35. 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.






36. Theory confirmed by 1968 - geologists had developed the complete model of continental drift - sea-floor spreading - and subduction. Within this model - Earth's lithosphere consists of about 20 distinct pieces - or plates - that move relative to each






37. The difference between the expected strength of the Earth's main field at a certain location and the actual measure strength of the magnetic field at that location. Places where the field strength is stronger that expected are positive anomalies - an






38. 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.






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






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






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






42. Farther down from a zone of leaching - new mineral crystals precipitate directly out of the water or form when the water reacts with debris - this the region where the new minerals and clay collect.






43. Weathering - erosion - transportation - deposition - and lithification.






44. The nature of Earth's magnetic field - like the familiar magnetic field around a bar magnet - has a North and South pole. The magnetic field is drawn with field lines - the paths along Which magnets would align - or charged particles would flow - if






45. Mineral class; consist of pure masses of a single metal - with metallic bonds. Copper and gold can appear in this way.






46. Two different minerals which have the same composition but have different crystal structures.






47. Places where intrusive igneous rock creates tabular intrusions cutting across rock that does not have layering - this nearly vertical - wall-like tabular intrusions is formed. Cut across layering within the earth.






48. A thick accumulation of sediment (10-15km) - the surface of this sediment layer is this broad - shallow region.






49. 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.






50. Sedimentary rock composed of calcite or dolomite.