The Rock Cycle
What substance (when cooled and hardened) creates igneous rock?
magma
What is the process in which wind or water breaks down rocks into smaller pieces or sediment called?
weathering
What is the name of the large supercontinent that scientists believe existed millions of years ago?
Pangea
What is the top layer of the Earth (where people live)?
crust
What is the process in which rocks change from one type of rock to another
rock cycle
What is the process in which sediments, or small pieces of sand and rock, are taken or carried from one place to another called?
erosion
What is the theory that the continental plates are slowly, but constantly moving above the mantle called?
Continental Drift
What types of landforms occur when continental plates converge?
a volcano or mountain range
(Earth is "UPLIFTED" as plates converge.)
What layer is in the very center of the Earth?
inner core
In which type of rock are we most likely to find fossils?
sedimentary rock
What is the process in which sediment is dropped after being carried by wind and/or water?
deposition
What are the cracks in Earth's crust where rocks break apart between continental plates called?
faults
What are people who study the Earth called?
geologists
What is the hot, melted rock under Earth's crust called?
magma
What rock is formed when other rocks begin to form minerals and crystals from heat and pressure and are changed into something completely different?
metamorphic rock
What can people do to help prevent soil and rocks from being eroded?
grow plants so the roots will hold soil and rocks in place
Crustal plates that move away from each other are called _________.
divergent boundary
What is hot, melted rock that has come to the surface of Earth's crust called?
What type of rock is formed when sediments are piled up and/or squeezed together?
When looking at the layers inside Earth's crust, which layer will have the oldest rocks and fossils?
The bottom layer
The boundaries in which crustal plates are moving together are called __.
convergent boundaries
The boundary that results in many earthquakes as crustal plates slide each other is called ___.
What layer is just under the crust and is made up of molten (melted) rock or magma?
mantle