Earth Science MCQs

Earth Science MCQs

Try to answer these 1000+ Earth Science MCQs and check your understanding of the Earth Science subject. Scroll down and let's begin!

1: _____ cause earthquakes and volcanic activity at _____.

A.   Plate tectonics, Plate boundaries

B.   Plate tectonics, the ring of fire

C.   Heat from Earths mantle, fault lines

D.   All of these

2: A population distribution shows _______.

A.   The distribution of age groups within a population

B.   The amount of organisms in a unit area

C.   The total number of organisms in a population

D.   Where and in what arrangement organisms are located

3: A regular mile an hour is 5,280 feet per hour. a knot is ________.

A.   Slightly faster than a regular mile per hour

B.   Slightly slower than a regular mile per hour

C.   Much faster than a regular mile an hour

D.   Much slower than a regular mile an hour

E.   A metric unit of measurement

4: A syncline is ________.

A.   A hanging wall block that has moved down between two normal faults

B.   A fold in which the strata dip toward the axis

C.   An uplifted block bounded by two normal faults

D.   A strike-slip fault that forms the boundary between tectonic plates

5: A temperature inversion occurs when ________.

A.   A warm front collides with a cold front

B.   Localized convective lifting occurs

C.   Higher, cooler air acts like a lid, keeping warmer, lower air in place

D.   Higher, warmer air acts like a lid, keeping cooler, lower air in place

6: A(n) ________ is a low lying, coral reef island perched above a sunken, truncated volcano.

A.   Fringing reef

B.   San Andreas strike-slip fault

C.   Accretionary-wedge complex

D.   Continental rise

7: Advantages of using algae as a biofuel include _______.

A.   Producing fuel in a wider range of geographic areas

B.   Decreasing the ecological impact of drilling for fossil fuels

C.   Replacing fossil fuels with a renewable source of energy

D.   All of these

8: Aerobic respiration became established as a result of the evolution of ____.

A.   High in hydrogen, low in oxygen

B.   Formation of membrane-bound protocells

C.   The oxygen-producing pathway of photosynthesis

D.   It evolved from chloroplasts.

9: Air is best described as ________.

A.   Intense convective (thunderstorm) activity and strong cyclonic circulation

B.   A mixture of gases, with solid particles and liquid droplets in it

C.   Frontal wedging

D.   They aid in condensation, and therefore in cloud formation.

10: All animals are _______.

A.   Producers

B.   Omnivores

C.   Herbivores

D.   Consumers

11: Zooxanthellae are ________.

A.   Has the greatest impacts in tropical areas and arid regions

B.   Poorly treated wastewater or from feed lots

C.   Symbiotic algae that provide energy to many species of marine corals

D.   Agricultural irrigation

12: Burning biomass _____.

A.   Is a method of obtaining coal

B.   Releases fewer toxins than coal

C.   Is formed from plant remains

D.   Is mostly methane

13: Color is _____.

A.   Caused by the chemicals in a mineral

B.   Has a Mohs hardness of 1

C.   Softer than diamond

D.   Softer than topaz

14: Complete this analogy: bouncing is to sand as suspension is to_____________.

A.   Ions

B.   Gravel

C.   Sand

D.   Clay

15: Darby finds a rock in her backyard. it has large crystals. she has found _____.

A.   Cooled very quickly

B.   Intrusive igneous rock

C.   Basalt

D.   Has a coarse texture

16: Desert climate associated with a rain shadow is found ________.

A.   On the windward (shoreward) side of coastal mountain ranges

B.   On the leeward (inward) side of coastal mountain ranges

C.   In the middle of flat plains

D.   Along continental coastlines

17: Dry climates characterize the ______ flank of subtropical highs.

A.   Equatorward

B.   Eastern

C.   Moist climates

D.   More

E.   SUMMER

18: Due to the ozone layer the top of the stratosphere is ______ than the top of the troposphere.

A.   Warm

B.   Cool

C.   Thin

D.   None of these

19: Evaporation ________.

A.   Is a cooling process

B.   Is a process not requiring energy

C.   Has its greatest rates when the air is already humid

D.   Is a heating process

E.   Releases latent heat in the air

20: Folds form in ________ temperature - ________ pressure environments.

A.   High; Low

B.   High; high

C.   Divergent; high

D.   Low; high

21: Global warming _____.

A.   Can't be slowed or stopped

B.   Threatens polar ecosystems

C.   Will cause sea levels to fall

D.   Only affects areas near the equator

22: Hydrothermal metamorphism _____.

A.   Changes in rocks caused by magma seeping into crustal rock; occurs at high temperature and low pressure

B.   Changes in rocks caused by tectonic plates pushing together; occurs at low to high temperatures and medium pressure

C.   Changes in rocks caused by tectonic plates rubbing sideways against one another; occurs at low to high temperatures and high pressure

D.   Changes in rocks caused by chemicals in hot water; occurs at low temperature and low pressure

23: If the direction of earth's rotation reversed, the most predictable effect would be ________.

A.   Tropical forests-nearly constant day length and temperature

B.   In biomes at different latitudes.

C.   Winds blowing from west to east along the equator.

D.   Temperature and rainfall

24: In 1868, the uss wateree was carried several miles inland by a tsunami along the coast of ______.

A.   Chile

B.   Alaska

C.   Japan

D.   Indonesia

25: In a mercury barometer, when air pressure increases, the mercury in the tube _____.

A.   Rises

B.   Falls.

C.   Rises, then falls.

D.   Falls, then rises.

26: In the northern hemisphere gyres _____

A.   Spin clockwise

B.   Spin counterclockwise

C.   Move in straight lines

D.   Move diagonally

27: Increases in the number of ______ can lead to warmer climates

A.   Sun spots

B.   IT IS NOT all freeze

C.   Rings

D.   Ice ages

28: Large circular downwarped structures are called ________.

A.   Anticlines

B.   Domes

C.   Synclines

D.   Basins

29: Mineralogically and chemically equivalent rocks are ___ and __.

A.   Granite; rhyolite

B.   Gabbro; basalt

C.   Diorite; andesite

D.   Mafic; ultramafic E. intermediate; felsic

30: Minerals are components of ________.

A.   Sedimentary rocks

B.   Organic components of Earth's crust

C.   Soil horizons

D.   The troposphere

E.   The lithosphere

31: Most extinction is ________.

A.   Gradual, generally occurring when species cannot adapt genetically to changes in environmental conditions

B.   Not often a problem for endemics

C.   The result of slow climate change

D.   The result of envIronmental catastrophe

E.   Problematic for generalists

32: Most boreal forests are dominated by ________ .

A.   Coniferous evergreen trees

B.   Glacial ice and snow

C.   The earths rotation

D.   Conversion to cropland

33: Most lakes _____.

A.   Contain saltwater

B.   Are recharged by evaporation

C.   Are in high latitudes and mountain regions

D.   Formed from trapped ocean water

34: Of the following, ________ would represent a clumped population dispersion pattern.

A.   Oaks planted on city streets

B.   A forest of pine trees

C.   A pod of 40 migrating gray whales

D.   Eagles nesting in the tallest trees in the Grand Canyon

E.   Earthworms in the soil of a garden

35: Paleontologists have found evidence that after a major extinction occurs, _____.

A.   There is no particular pattern of speciation

B.   Many new species often appear at about the same time

C.   A new species evolves to replace each species that became extinct

D.   Most species move away because they cannot adapt

36: Potential evapotranspiration is ________.

A.   Very small when the atmosphere is warm

B.   Usually about the same as actual evapotranspiration

C.   Usually not as great as actual evapotranspiration

D.   An amount much less than transpiration

E.   Not described by any of the above

37: Recent research indicates that the variation in solar output ________.

A.   Is less than any of the anthropogenic factors affecting climate change

B.   Is an alternative to fossil fuels that produces fewer greenhouse gases

C.   Is an international panel that reports on how climate change influences biomes and economies

D.   None of these

38: Sand is deposited on the ________ side of a dune.

A.   Bajadas

B.   Saltation

C.   Blowouts

D.   Loess

E.   Leeward

39: Secondary succession could occur after a _____.

A.   Forest fire

B.   Transverse

C.   Pressure

D.   Circular

40: Slate is ________ than shale.

A.   More planar

B.   Darker

C.   Denser

D.   Lighter

41: Taproots, thorns, and fleshy stems are characteristics of ________.

A.   Epiphytes

B.   Xerophytes

C.   Angiosperms

D.   Gymnosperm

42: The ____ formed during the paleozoic era.

A.   Birds evolved from dinosaurs

B.   Appalachian Mountains

C.   Organic evolution

D.   They might have been warm-blooded

43: The blueschist facies is a metamorphic realm of ________.

A.   Changes in mineralogy and texture in response to heat and stress

B.   Metamorphism

C.   High pressure but relatively low temperature

D.   Complete remelting of the rock, followed by solidification to form a new rock

44: The pattern of __________ determines earth's precipitation pattern.

A.   Interference with photosynthesis; global atmospheric conditions

B.   Global atmospheric conditions, solar activity, and volcanic eruptions.

C.   Both

D.   None of these

45: The scientific process and knowledge is based on ________.

A.   A systematic process of learning about and testing our understanding of the world

B.   An expanding knowledge based on observation, questioning, testing and discovery

C.   Is an activity designed to test the validity of a hypothesis

D.   None of these

46: The surface of the lithosphere is fractured into a number of______________.

A.   Chronometer

B.   Tectonic plates

C.   Ice cores

D.   Transform

47: ________ is not part of the water cycle?

A.   Water moving into creeks and streams following a rainstorm

B.   Calcium carbonate dissolving in soil water and groundwater

C.   Water infiltrating into the soil and bedrock

D.   Water evaporating from a lake

48: A region generally is higher than an adjacent region if ____________ than in the adjacent region.

A.   Deposition and burial

B.   Pyroclastic flow; welded

C.   The crust is thicker

D.   Phenocrysts; porphyritic

49: Mechanisms that enhance or drive change are known as ________.

A.   Closed feedback mechanisms

B.   Positive feedback mechanisms

C.   Open feedback mechanisms

D.   Negative feedback mechanisms

50: Scientific __________ must be able to generate predictions.

A.   Predictions

B.   Seismologist

C.   Models

D.   None of these