The Basics of the Rock Cycle
Weathering
Plate Tectonics & Earth’s Changes
From Sediments to Rocks
100
What are the three main types of rocks in the rock cycle?
What are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks?
100
What force breaks down rocks into smaller pieces?
What are weathering?
100
What type of plate movement causes mountain formation?
What is convergent tectonic plates?
100
What do weathering and erosion of metamorphic rocks produce?
What are sediments?
200
Which process forms sedimentary rocks from sediments?
What is compacting and cementing?
200
Which agents can cause weathering and erosion? (Choose all that apply: water, wind, ice, sand)
What are water, wind, ice, and sand?
200
Which two Earth processes can we use to show the location of a plate boundary?
What is an earthquake or volcanoes?
200
Which rock forms when sediments are compacted and cemented together?
What is a sedimentary rock?
300
Rocks melt into magma and cool again to form what type of rock?
What is igneous rock?
300
Which process transforms igneous rock into sediment?
What is erosion?
300
What process pushes newly formed igneous rock up to the surface?
What is plate movement or uplift?
300
What type of rock forms when magma cools deep underground?
What is igneous rock?
400
What type of energy drives most processes in the rock cycle?
What is heat energy from Earth’s interior?
400
As rock is pushed down deep underground due to plate motion what process happens as it enters the mantle?
What is melting?
400
Label the following:
A. Divergent
B. Convergent
C. Transform
400
Explain how sedimentary rock could eventually become igneous rock.
What is: sedimentary rock melts into magma, then cools to form igneous rock?
500
True or False: A rock can be transformed into any other type of rock by going through the rock cycle.
What is True?
500
What energy source fuels weathering?
What is Sun Energy?
500
A student notices that similar fossils are found on the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa.
Using your knowledge of plate tectonics, explain how this evidence supports the theory of plate movement and describe what type of boundary could have existed between these continents.
What is: The matching fossils suggest that the continents were once joined as part of a supercontinent (Pangaea) and later drifted apart due to plate movement. The type of boundary that separated them is a divergent boundary, where plates move away from each other and new ocean floor forms between them.
500
A sample of sedimentary rock is buried deep underground over millions of years. Later, magma from below begins to rise and heats the surrounding rock.
Explain two possible paths this rock could take next in the rock cycle and the processes that would cause each transformation.
What is: (1) If the rock remains solid and experiences heat and pressure, it can change into a metamorphic rock through metamorphism; or (2) if the rock melts completely, it will become magma that cools and solidifies to form igneous rock through melting and cooling.