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. 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.






2. Physical property of a mineral; a measure of a minerals relative ability to resist scratching - and therefore represents the resistance of bonds in the crystal structure being broken. The atoms or ions in crystals of a hard mineral are more strongly






3. 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.






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






5. Mineral class; consist of a metal cation bonded to the anionic group. Many form by precipitation out of water at or near the Earth's surface. Example - gypsum.






6. A mafic rock with small grains. Extrusive - aphanitic igneous rock.






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






8. A submarine suspension of sediment.






9. 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.






10. A mineral's growth that is uninhibited - has well-formed crystal faces.






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






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






13. 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.






14. 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.






15. Some minerals have distinctive properties - such as calcite which reacts with dilute hydrochloric acid to produce carbon dioxide. Dolomite also reacts with acid - graphite can make clear markings - magnetite attracts a magnet - halite tastes salty -






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






17. Process occurring after sediment has been compacted - can then be bounded together to make coherent sedimentary rock. Binding material consists of minerals (commonly quartz or calcite).






18. Sedimentary rock composed of calcite or dolomite.






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






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






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






22. 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.






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






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






25. 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.






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






27. A sedimentary bed that has developed a reddish color. The red comes from a film of iron oxide (hematite) that forms on grain surfaces.






28. 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.






29. The combination of processes that separate rock or regolith from its substrate and carry it away. Involves abrasion - plucking - scouring - and dissolution - and is caused by air - water or ice.






30. Tree roots that grow into joints can push those joints open in this process.






31. The ocean floor is diced up by narrow bands of vertical fractures. Lie roughly at right angles to mid-ocean ridges - effectively segmenting the ridges into small pieces.






32. Subsoil - ions and clay leached and transported down from above accumulate here. As a result - new minerals form - and clay fills open spaces. Part of the zone of accumulation.






33. An exposure of bedrock.






34. A reference to the supposed position of the Earth's magnetic pole at a time in the past.






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






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






37. Magma viscosity depends upon temperature - volatile content - and silica content. Hotter magma - more volatiles - and mafic magma all have less viscosity.


38. 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.






39. 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






40. Type of volcano; built from ejected lava fragments - cone shaped piles of tephra - steep slope angle - smaller in size - frequently occur in groups - deep craters.






41. 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.






42. An intrusion starting to inject between layers but then dome upwards - creating this blister-shaped intrusion.






43. 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.






44. Type of sedimentary soil/rock; Calcite in a pedocal soil accumulates in the B-horizon and may cement soil together - creating this solid mass.






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






46. A process occurring when the sea level rises - the coast migrates inland. Through this - an extensive layer of beach forms.






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






48. 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






49. Type of volcanic eruption; takes place when water gains access to the hot rock around the magma chamber and suddenly transforms into steam - a pyroclastic eruption involving the reaction of water with magma.






50. 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