Earth science

Question 1

Minerals

Answer 1

a solid, naturally occurring inorganic substance.

Question 2

Lithosphere

Answer 2

Lithosphere the outermost layer of the Earth includes the crust and uppermost part of the mantle.

Question 3

Magma

Answer 3

Magma a very hot mixture of molten rock and gases, just below the Earth’s surface, that has come from the mantle.

Question 4

Sediments

Answer 4

Sediments material broken down by weathering and erosion that is moved by wind or water and collects in layers.

Question 5

Lava

Answer 5

Hot molten or semi-fluid rock erupted from a volcano or fissure, or solid rock resulting from cooling of this.

Question 6

Igneous

Answer 6

Rocks that form from the cooling of lava or magma as it is thrown through the air from a volcanic eruption

Question 7

Extrusive

Answer 7

extrusive rocks igneous rock that forms when lava cools above the Earth’s surface

Question 8

Intrusive

Answer 8

intrusive rocks igneous rock that forms when magma cools below the Earth’s surface

Question 9

Pumice

Answer 9

pumice a pale rock that forms when frothy lava cools in the air. Pumice often floats on water as it is very light and full of holes that once contained gas.

Question 10

Basalt

Answer 10

basalt a dark, igneous rock with small crystals formed by fast cooling of hot lava.

Question 11

obsidian

Answer 11

obsidian a black, glassy rock that breaks into pieces with smooth shell-like surfaces

Question 12

Scoria

Answer 12

scoria a dark, igneous rock formed from gassy lava that cools quickly

Question 13

Granite

Answer 13

granite a hard, igneous rock with different-coloured crystals large enough to see. (intrusive)

Question 14

Batholiths

Answer 14

batholiths intrusive rock mass that measures more than 100 kilometres across

Question 15

Abrasive

Answer 15

abrasive a property of a material or substance that easily scratches another

Question 16

Lustre

Answer 16

The lustre of a mineral describes the way that it reflects light.

Question 17

Moh’s scale

Answer 17

A scale of hardness used in classifying minerals.

Question 18

Streak

Answer 18

The streak is the powdery mark left by a mineral when it is scraped across a hard surface like an unglazed white ceramic tile.

Question 19

floodplains

Answer 19

floodplains flat, open land beside a river where sediments are deposited during floods

Question 20

Erosion

Answer 20

erosion the wearing away and removal of soil and rock by natural elements, such as wind, waves, rivers and ice, and by human activity.

Question 21

glaciers

Answer 21

glaciers large bodies of ice that move down slopes and push boulders, rocks and gravel in front of them

Question 22

moraines

Answer 22

moraines deposit left by movement of a glacier

Question 23

Conglomerate

Answer 23

a conglomerate sedimentary rock containing large particles of various sizes cemented together

Question 24

Rock Salt

Answer 24

rock salt a sedimentary deposit formed when a salt lake or seabed dried up. Its main chemical is sodium chloride.

Question 25

mineral ores

Answer 25

mineral ores rocks mined to obtain a metal or other chemical within them

Question 26

mining

Answer 26

mining extraction of natural resources from the Earth

Question 27

environmental impact statement (EIS)

Answer 27

environmental impact statement (EIS) study of the possible effects of a planned project on the environment

Question 28

rehabilitated

Answer 28

rehabilitated restored to its previous condition

Question 29

overburden

Answer 29

overburden waste rock removed from below the topsoil. This rock is replaced when the area is restored.

Question 30

open-cut mining

Answer 30

open-cut mining that scours out soil and rocks on the surface of the land

Question 31

Alloy

Answer 31

alloy a mixture of a metal with a non-metal or another metal.

Question 32

Stone Age

Answer 32

Stone Age the time beginning about two million years ago during which early humans made implements of stone

Question 33

Percussion Flaking

Answer 33

percussion flaking a process in which tool stones such as flint or obsidian were struck with harder stones, such as quartzite, to shear large flakes that could be used to make small tools.

Question 34

Fossils

Answer 34

fossil any remains, impression, or trace of an animal or plant of a former geological age; evidence of life in the past.

Question 35

Folding

Answer 35

folding the buckling of rocks. It is caused when rocks are under pressure from both sides.

Question 36

Palaeontologists

Answer 36

palaeontologists a scientist who studies fossils.

Question 37

Relative Age

Answer 37

relative age the age of a rock compared with the age of another rock

Question 38

Carnivores

Answer 38

carnivores animal that eats other animals.

Question 39

Scavengers

Answer 39

scavengers animals that eat dead plant and animal material.

Question 40

Mould

Answer 40

mould cavity in a rock that shows the shape of the hard parts of an organism; types of fungi found growing on the surface of foods.

Question 41

Trace Fossils

Answer 41

trace fossils fossils that provide evidence, such as footprints, that an organism was present when the rock was formed.

Question 42

Extinct

Answer 42

extinct describes volcanoes that are no longer active. Extinct volcanoes have not erupted for thousands of years and show no sign of future eruption..