Layers of the Earth
Created from the elements on the Earth (naturally occurring) and are found in soil and rocks (inorganic process).
What are minerals
What are the properties that help classify rocks?
Color, Mineral Composition, Texture(Coarse v. Fine), Origin (how they are formed)
How do scientists know about Earth's interior?
Direct Evidence from Rock Samples: Drilling brings up samples of rock and gives clues to geologists. Volcanoes carry rocks to the surface. Some rocks elevated as mountains formed.
Indirect Evidence from Seismic Waves: Geologists record seismic waves from Earthquakes and the paths reveal the makeup of the interior.
What are the two types of texture? Describe them.
Coarse Grain: large, visible crystals, slow cooling
Fine Grain: small crystals, fast cooling
Rocks develop from the gathering and compression of sediment layers consisting of small particles such as sand, mud, and remnants of plants and animals.
Often contain fossils
How do metamorphic rocks form? What is unique about their appearance?
Forms when a rock is changed by heat, pressure, or by chemical reactions deep within Earth. They often have a layered or banded appearance.
The crust and the upper layer of the mantle together make up this zone of rigid, brittle granite, and basalt. Convection currents occur here.
What is the Lithosphere
Three things change a sedimentary rock or igneous rock to a metamorphic rock.
What are heat, pressure, and chemical reaction
Give an example of mineral formation.
Graphite (used in pencils) and diamonds are both made from Carbon. Diamonds are formed deep in Earth’s surface from changing the structure of atoms in graphite. Magma carried diamonds, where they embedded in rock when it cooled.
What are the types of Igneous rock and how are they different?
Extrusive Igneous Rocks: form from lava that erupted onto Earth’s surface, like basalt. Fast cooling forms fine grained rocks with small crystals. Rocks with no crystals are called glass.
Intrusive Igneous Rocks: form when magma hardens beneath the surface of rock, like granite. Slow cooling forms coarse grained rocks with large crystals.