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. 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






2. Magma type; contains only about 38% to 45% silica. Extreme form of mafic magma.






3. 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.






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






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






6. Sedimentary rock composed of clay.






7. Rocks that forms by the freezing of lava above ground - after it spills out (extrudes) onto the surface of the Earth and comes into contact with the atmosphere or ocean.






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






9. Heat from an intense surface fire bakes and expands the outer layer of the rock. On cooling - the layer contracts - causing the outer part of the rock spall - or break off in sheet-like pieces.






10. Volcanic landform; steep walled depression at the summit - size exceeds one kilometer in diameter.






11. Cause of melting; magma can also form at locations where chemicals called volatiles mix with hot mantle rock. Elements such as water and carbon dioxide mix with hot rock - helping to break chemical bonds - so that if you add volatiles to a solid - ho






12. An insulated - tunnel-like conduit through which lava moves within a flow.






13. A vent at Which melt from inside the Earth spews onto the planet's surface. Erupt.






14. Type of sedimentary rock; rocks whose grains are stuck together by cement.






15. 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






16. 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.






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






18. The four classes of igneous silicate rocks based on the proportion of silicon to iron and magnesium. As the proportion of silicon in a rock increases - the density decreases - thus felsic rocks are less dense than mafic. In order - from greatest to l






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






20. 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.






21. Fluid basaltic lava extruded from crustal fractures called fissures.






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






23. A pluton formation theory; a process during Which magma assimilates wall rock - and blocks of wall rock break off and sink into the magma.






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






25. In addition to islands that rise above sea level - seamounts have been detected (isolated submarine mountains) - once volcanoes but no longer erupt.






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






27. Volcanic landform; pipes are short conduits that connect a magma chamber to the surface.






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






29. 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






30. A submarine suspension of sediment.






31. 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.






32. The fit of the continents - locations of past glaciations - the distribution of equatorial climatic belts - the distribution of fossils - and matching geologic units.






33. 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






34. 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






35. 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.






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






37. Magma type; contains about 66% to 76% silica. Name reflects the occurrence of feldspar and quartz in rocks formed in this magma.






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






39. Irregular or blob-shaped intrusions that range in size from tens of meters across to tens of kilometers across.






40. Forms from a chemical reaction between solid calcite and magnesium-bearing groundwater.






41. 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.






42. 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.






43. Process that occurs after the sediment has been buried - pressure cause by the overburden squeezes out water and air that had been trapped between clasts - and the clasts press together tightly.






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






45. 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.






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






47. Type of igneous rock composition; composed of light-colored silicates - very rich in felsic (feldspar and silica). Major constituent of continental crust.






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. 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.






50. 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).