Igneous Rocks
What are igneous rocks?
What is: rock formed by solidification of a molten magma (derived from the Latin word ignis meaning fire).
What are sedimentary rocks?
What are: types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of small particles and subsequent cementation of mineral or organic particles on the floor of oceans or other bodies of water at the Earth's surface.
What are metamorphic rocks?
What is: a type of rock which has been changed by extreme heat and pressure.
What is the rock cycle?
What is a basic concept in geology that describes transitions through geologic time among the three main rock types: sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous.
How do igneous rocks form, and where?
What is the solidification from molten rock material. They form on Earth's surface.
How do sedimentary rocks form, and where?
What is, when small particles of rocks or the remains of plants and animals are pressed and cemented together. They form in layers that are buried below the surface.
How do metamorphic rocks form, and where?
What is, when a rock is changed by heat or pressure, or by chemical reactions. They form deep underground.
How does the rock cycle form?
What is: inside Earth, heat, pressure, and melting change sedimentary and igneous rock into metamorphic rock. Intense heating results in hot liquid rock (magma) bursting through Earth's surface and turning into solid igneous rock. Over time, this rock gets weathered and eroded, and the cycle begins again.
What are 2 examples of igneous rock?
What are granite and basalt.
What are 3 examples of sedimentary rock?
What are sandstone, shale, and gneiss.
What are 4 examples of metamorphic rock?
What are granite, sandstone, quartzite, and schist.
Give an example of the rock cycle.
What is: heat and pressure changes, rocks are often shifted from one layer of the Earth's crust to the other due to changes in the crust itself, below the surface, temperatures increase as the rocks go down, melting, and cooling.
List 4 characteristics for igneous rocks.
What are: normally contains no fossils, usually has no layering, usually made of two or more minerals, and usually made of mineral crystals of different sizes.
List 4 characteristics for sedimentary rocks.
What are: cross-bedding, mud cracks, worm burrows, and raindrop impressions.
List 3 characteristics for metamorphic rocks.
What are: heat and metamorphism (heat is an important agent in the metamorphic modification of rock), pressure and metamorphism, and chemical action of fluids.
List some characteristics of the rock cycle.
What are: through processes such as weathering, heating, melting, cooling, and compaction, any one rock type can be changed into a different rock type as its chemical composition and physical characteristics are transformed.