Weathering
What is weathering?
The process of breaking down earth's surface
What is erosion?
The process of carrying sediment away after it is weathered
This rock is formed underground using heat and preasure.
Metamorphic rocks
True or false: a mineral can be identified by color alone.
False! Many minerals share a color, so we can not consider color alone when deciding on a mineral.
What is a rock?
a natural occurring substance made up of one or more minerals.
How can trees weather rocks?
Their roots will grow into the rocks, causing them to break apart
How does erosion affect beaches?
This rock is formed on the earth's surface by sediment
sedimentary rocks
What is the scale called that we test a mineral's hardness?
Mohs Scale
What do we call it when sediment is carried away by water and dropped off into a stream, lake, or ocean?
Deposition
Water freezing and thawing continuously over time can expand and break rocks.
What are the three things that can cause erosion?
Wind, water, and ice (glaciers)
This type of rock is formed from molten rock, lava, or magma.
Igneous rock
True or false: If Quartz has a hardness of 7, it can scratch a Topaz mineral which has a hardness of 8?
False! Quartz (7) is softer than Topaz (8), so it would not be able to scratch it.
This is known as the hardest mineral
Diamond
Why might some rocks or minerals weather quicker than others?
How can plant roots help erosion from happening?
Plant roots can hold onto sediment, slowing down the process of erosion caused by water and wind.
Explain how one rock can change over time into a different type of rock.
3 Example answers:
Any rock can become a sedimentary rock by weathering.
Any rock can turn into a metamorphic rock if it is underground with heat and pressure.
Any rock can melt and cool from a volcano, turning into an igneous rock.
What are the 5 properties of a mineral?
Color, luster, hardness, cleavage, and streak
What are the two main types of weathering?
Physical (ex. water, wind, gravity)
biological (ex. plant roots)
How are weathering and erosion connected?
They both are natural process that change the earth's surface.
How are erosion and deposition connected?
Erosion moves the sediment and then drops it, which is deposition.
Igneous rocks are broken into 2 types of rocks depending on where they are formed. What are those two types called?
intrusive and extrusive rocks.
Mrs. Gomez uses a nail to break apart a variety of minerals to see how they break. What property of the minerals is she trying to identify?
She is trying to identify the cleavage, or fracture.
This mineral is known as the softest mineral with a rating of 1 on the Mohs scale.
Talc