Mineral and Rocks
Natural Structures
Layers of the Earth
Mining Terminology
100

Minerals are always solid and have a geometric shape. (True or False)

True!

100

A lake has steep, sloping sides and sharp or rounded ridges, and a high point, called a peak or summit. (True or False)

False! That is a mountain.
100
We are on the 'outer core' of the Earth. (True or False)
False! We are on the crust.
100

Rocks

Any natural combination of minerals; an aggregate of minerals.

200

What is the most common mineral in the world?

Quartz

200

Name and describe one natural structure.

Answers may vary.

200

Name and describe one layer of the Earth.

Answers may vary. 

200

Erosion

The removal of soil, sediment or rock fragments from a landscape.

300

What is the mineral or rock makes our bones very strong?

Calcium

300

What is the dark and hollow natural structure that can form underground, on hillsides, or in the walls of cliffs? Some were were carved out by water. Others were formed by lava that cooled and hardened.

A cave!

300

What is the deepest layer within the Earth and it's under immense pressure?

Inner Core!

300

Water table

The level in the ground, below which, all spaces in rock, sediment and soils are filled with groundwater (therefore some mines must be 'dewatered'!)

400

How are rocks made?

1. Some rocks are formed from melted rock deep inside the Earth.

2.  Some are formed from layers of sand, silt, dead plants, and animal skeletons. 

3. Some are formed from other rocks that are changed by heat and pressure underground.

400

How are icebergs made?

Icebergs form when chunks of ice calve, or break off, from glaciers, ice shelves, or a larger iceberg.

400

Name all 4 main layers of the Earth!

The crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core.

400

Quarry

Location for extraction of consolidated earth materials (bedrock). Blasting is required to liberate the rock for processing.

500

What is one use of a mineral or rock?

Answers may vary. Ex. Manufacture of concrete, bricks and pipes and in building houses and roads

500

What is one use of a dam?

A dam is a structure built across a stream or river to hold water back. Dams can be used to store water, control flooding, and generate electricity

500

How is lava made?

Lava is molten rock. It is created inside Earth's core where temperatures get hot enough to melt rock. When the molten rock erupts onto Earth's surface and begins to flow, scientists then call it lava.

500

Xenolith

A fragment of old rock caught or stuck in a new igneous rock.