Rock Cycle
This type of rock forms when lava cools.
What is Igneous Rock?
Breaking down rock without moving it is called this.
What is weathering?
Remains, imprints, or traces of ancient organisms.
What are fossils?
Large pieces of Earth’s crust that float on molten rock.
What are tectonic plates?
Comparing which rocks are older or younger, not exact age.
What is relative age?
Small pieces of broken rock are called this.
What are sediments?
Moving sediment by wind, water, ice, or gravity is called this.
What is erosion?
Fossils are usually found in this type of rock.
What is sedimentary rock?
This theory explains how Earth’s continents move slowly over time on large pieces of the crust.
What is plate tectonics?
The bottom rock layer in undisturbed strata is this.
What is the oldest?
Heat and pressure causes rock to form this type.
What is metamorphic rock?
When sediments are dropped and settle in layers, this occurs.
What is deposition?
Fossils found on different continents support this idea.
What is continental drift?
The name of the ancient supercontinent.
What is Pangaea?
Gaps in the rock record are called this.
What are unconformities?
Sediments settle in layers, are pressed together, and minerals harden them into rock.
What is sedimentary rock formation?
These three processes shape Earth’s surface over time.
What are weathering, erosion, and deposition?
Fossils that lived for a short time but were widespread are called this.
What are index fossils?
Matching mountains on far-apart continents are evidence of this.
What is continental drift?
A fault that cuts through layers is this compared to the layers.
What is younger?
This idea states that any rock type can change into another over time.
What is the rock cycle?
This process carved the Grand Canyon over millions of years.
What is erosion by water?
If two rock layers contain the same index fossil, they are likely this.
What are about the same age?
This geologic feature forms at divergent boundaries where magma rises and solidifies, creating new oceanic crust.
What is a mid-ocean ridge?
The principle that present processes explain the past.
What is uniformitarianism?