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; 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.






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






3. The process by which sediment settles out of the transporting medium.






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






5. 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.






6. 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.






7. The absorption of water into the crystal structure of minerals - causes some minerals to expand.






8. Chemical weathering during Which minerals dissolve into water.






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






10. 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.






11. 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






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






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






14. The force that subducting plates apply to oceanic lithosphere at a convergent boundary - arises simply because lithosphere formed 10 million years ago is denser than asthenosphere - so it can sink into the asthenosphere. Thus once an oceanic plate st






15. 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.






16. Rigid outer layer of Earth - 100-150km thick. Consists of the crust plus the uppermost part of the mantle.






17. Soil section below the O-horizon - humus has decayed further and has mixed with mineral grains (clay - silt - and sand). Water percolating through this horizon causes chemical weathering reactions to occur and produces ions in solution and new clay m






18. Sedimentary rock composed of clay.






19. Blocks of rock that are solid and durable but composed of rough quartz sand grains cemented together.






20. 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.






21. A distinctive sequence of strata traced across a fairly large region. For example - a region may contain a succession of alternating sandstone and shale beds deposited by rivers - overlain by beds of marine limestone deposited later.






22. Relatively small - elongated ridges that form on a bed surface at right angles to the direction of the current flow of the rock.






23. The rate of increase in temperature - decreases with increasing depth. The dashed lines represent the solidus and liquidus for mantle rock (peridotite). The solidus line defines the conditions of pressure and temperature at Which mantle rock begins t






24. A mixture containing more than one type of metal atom. Example - bronze is a mixture of copper and tin.






25. 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 -






26. 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.






27. 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.






28. Mineral class; the molecule CO23 serves as the anionic group. Elements like calcium or magnesium bond to this group. Examples - calcite and dolomite.






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






30. 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






31. Cause of melting; when magma rises up from the mantle into the crust - it brings heat with it which raises the temperature of the surrounding crustal rock - and in some cases melting occurs.






32. 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.






33. A submarine suspension of sediment.






34. Rocks whose crystals interlock with each other.






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






36. 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






37. 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.






38. 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






39. Similar to ripples - but are much larger. Small ripples often form on the surface of these structures.






40. 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.






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






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






43. Type of lava flow; a lava flow with warm - pasty surfaces wrinkling into smooth - glassy - rope-like bridges.






44. During this process - water chemically reacts with minerals and breaks them down - working faster in slightly acidic water.






45. 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






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






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






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






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






50. 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.