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






2. Some rocks develop their magnetization - their ability to produce a magnetic field - at the time that the rocks themselves formed. Such rocks - preserve a record of the Earth's magnetic field at known times in the past.






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






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






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






6. 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.






7. Type of volcanic eruption; produce mainly lava flows - yield low-viscosity basaltic lavas.






8. 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.






9. Mineral crystal formation type; from directly from a vapor - occurs around volcanic vents or around geysers. At such locations - volcanic gases or steam enter the atmosphere and cool - so certain elements cannot remain in gaseous form.






10. 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.






11. 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






12. Layering in metamorphic rocks.






13. Along much of the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean - the ocean floor reaches astounding depths of 8-12km. These areas define elongate troughs - and they border volcanic arcs - the curving chains of active volcanoes.






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






15. Successive turbidity currents deposit successive graded beds - creating this sequence of strata.






16. Breaks intact rocks into unconnected grains or chunks - collectively called debris or detritus. Grain size from largest to smallest: boulders - cobbles - pebbles - sand - silt - mud/clay.






17. Sedimentary rocks made up of minerals that precipitate directly from water solutions.






18. 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.






19. 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






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






21. A layer of sediment in which grain size varies from coarse at the bottom to fine at the top.






22. The conditions in which sediment was deposited. Examples - beach - glacial - and/or river environments.






23. 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.






24. 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






25. Physical property of a mineral; represents the density of a mineral - as specified by the ratio between the weight of a volume of the mineral and the weight of an equal volume of water a 4 degrees C.






26. 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






27. Layering in sedimentary rocks.






28. Form when solid materials become hot and transform into liquid - example - molten rock.






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






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






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






32. 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.






33. Distinguishing feature of magma; the process where different magmas formed in different locations from different sources may come in contact within a magma chamber prior to freezing. Thus the originally distinct magmas mix to create a new - different






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






35. The separated lithosphere into distinct pieces. Twelve major 'pieces' and several minor. Consist of active margins and passive margins between them.






36. 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.






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






38. Times when the Earth's magnetic field flips from normal to reversed polarity - or vice versa. When the Earth has reversed polarity - the south magnetic pole lies near the north geographic pole - and the north magnetic pole lies near the south geograp






39. 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






40. 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.






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






42. The injection of magma within the magma chamber and conduit generates an outward pressure within the volcano. The presence of gas within the magma increases this pressure - as gas expands greatly as it rises toward the Earth's surface. Rhyolitic and






43. 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.






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






45. 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.






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






47. Deeper sublayer of the mantle - depth of 660km to 2900km.






48. A plate boundary at which two plates move apart from one another by process of sea-floor spreading. Mid-ocean ridges or simply a ridge. New crust is formed at ridges through the buoyant rising of magma from beneath the surface and solidifies to creat






49. Sedimentary rocks made up of the shells of organisms.






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