Rocks and Minerals
A naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a definite chemical composition and crystalline structure.
What is a mineral?
The three main types of rocks.
What are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic?
Igneous rocks form when this molten material cools.
What is magma or lava?
This type of rock forms from compacted and cemented sediments.
What is sedimentary rock?
This type of rock forms due to heat and pressure.
What is metamorphic rock?
This term means a mineral is not made by humans.
What is naturally occurring?
The cycle that describes how rocks change over time.
What is the rock cycle?
The difference between intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks.
What is intrusive rocks cool slowly underground, forming large crystals, while extrusive rocks cool quickly on the surface, forming small or no crystals?
This process breaks down rocks into small pieces, which later become sedimentary rock.
What is weathering and erosion?
The difference between foliated and non-foliated metamorphic rocks.
What is foliated rocks have layers, while non-foliated rocks do not?
This term means a mineral is not made from living things.
What is inorganic?
Molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface.
What is magma?
If magma cools slowly, crystals will be ____.
What is large?
This type of sedimentary rock is made from broken pieces of other rocks.
What is clastic sedimentary rock?
This process causes metamorphic rocks to change but not melt.
What is heat and pressure?
A mineral must be in this state of matter, meaning it has a definite shape and volume.
What is solid?
Molten rock that has reached the Earth’s surface.
What is lava?
If lava cools quickly, crystals will be ____.
What is small or nonexistent?
The Law of Superposition states that in undisturbed rock layers, the __ layers are at the bottom.
What is oldest?
Metamorphic rocks start as this type of rock before changing.
What is igneous or sedimentary rock?
Name four characteristics that define a substance as a mineral.
What are naturally occurring, inorganic, solid, definite chemical composition, and crystalline structure
Magma turns into igneous rock through this process.
What is cooling and solidification?
This type of igneous rock has a glassy texture due to very rapid cooling.
What is volcanic glass or obsidian?
The three types of sedimentary rocks.
What are clastic, chemical, and organic?
Unlike igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks do not undergo this process.
What is melting?