Test your basic knowledge |

Subject : science
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

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






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






3. After sand has lost its feldspar composition due to weathering over time - sediment composed entirely of quartz grains gets buried and lithified to form this type of rock.






4. The most common minerals in the Earth. Contain silica (SiO2) mixed in varying proportions with other elements (typically iron - magnesium - aluminum - calcium - potassium - and sodium).






5. 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






6. 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.






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






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






9. 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 -






10. 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.






11. Sedimentary rock composed of clay.






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






13. Type of lava flow; mafic - low viscosity - extremely hot - flows very quickly.






14. 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






15. 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.






16. Develops because mid-ocean ridges lie at a higher elevation than the adjacent abyssal plains of the ocean. The surface of the sea floor overall slopes away from the ridge axis. Gravity causes the elevated lithosphere at the ridge axis to push on the






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






18. Mineral crystal formation type; form from a solution - meaning that atoms - molecules - or ions dissolved in water bond together out of water.






19. 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.






20. Refers to the arrangement of grains in a rock; that is - the way the grains connect each other and whether inequant grains are aligned parallel to one another.






21. A sheet of tuff formed from a pyroclastic flow.






22. Sphere; Surface water along with groundwater - Earth consists of 70% surface water (oceans - lakes - and streams).






23. An exposure of bedrock.






24. The distance of the deepest well ever drilled - hole in northern Russia. Penetrates only about 0.03% of the Earth.






25. 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






26. 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.






27. Fracture type; smoothly curving - clamshell-shaped surfaces; typically formed in quartz.






28. Natural bond connecting rocks; mineral material that precipitates from water and fills the space between grains.






29. Type of lava flow; the most viscous of any lava flow because it is the most silicic and the coolest in nature. Tends to accumulate in a lava dome above the vent or in short and bulbous flows 1 to 2 km long.






30. Type of volcano; most are adjacent to the Pacific - larger in size - interbedded lavas and pyroclastics - consist of alternating layers of lava and tephra - most violent type of activity - may produce nuee ardente or lahars.






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






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. 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.






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






35. A submarine suspension of sediment.






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






37. Type of soil; forms in tropical regions where abundant rainfall drenches the land during the rainy season - and the soil dries during the dry season.






38. A single - continuous (uninterrupted) piece of a crystalline solid bounded by flat surfaces called crystal faces that grew naturally as the mineral formed. Come in a variety of shapes - cubes - trapezoids - pyramids - octahedrons - hexagonal columns






39. 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






40. 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.






41. 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.






42. 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






43. The Earth radiated heat into space and slowly cooled. Eventually - the early formed sea of lava solidified and formed igneous rock. The cumulative effect of radioactivity has been sufficient to slow the cooling of the planet and subsequently allow fo

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


44. A single layer of sediment or sedimentary rock with a recognizable top and bottom.






45. Iron (35%) - oxygen (30%) - silicon (15%) - and magnesium (10%) - and the remaining 10% consists of 88 naturally occurring elements.






46. 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.






47. A proposition in 1960 - by Princeton University professor Harry Hess - that continents drift apart because new ocean floor forms between them by this process.






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






49. A reference to the sinking of the lithosphere; allows for sediment to accumulate in regions where this occurs.






50. 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.