Animal? Vegetable? MINERAL!
This is the softest mineral that doesn't possibly have metallic luster.
What is talc?
In general, the slower the cooling of magma/lava is, the ________ the crystals become.
What is larger/bigger?
[Yes, applies to both plutonic and volcanic rocks. In general, volcanic rocks will cool more quickly than plutonic rocks, given their origins.]
Compaction and cementation are two processes, either of which could result in this type of rock.
What is sedimentary rock?
Between eons, eras, periods, and epochs, this is the shortest amount of time.
What are epochs?
(What is an epoch?)
In general, lighter is to dark as ________ is to mafic.
What is felsic?
This mineral cleaves and is a food additive that can help melt ice.
What is halite?
[Half-credit possible for the answer "salt"]
The size of this helps classify a clastic rock.
What is grain?
(What is grain size?)
These are the three classes of rocks. (Any order, but no partial credit allowed.)
What are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic?
This is the current epoch we are in.
What is the Holocene Epoch?
If an igneous rock is described as having gas pockets, this one-word adjective can represent that.
What is "vesicular?"
This mineral fractures and is often seen as red glassy grains in metamorphic rocks found in NY state.
What is garnet?
In contact metamorphism, rocks are changed as a result of this nearby.
What is magma or lava?
Igneous rocks come to be when either magma or lava undergoes this process.
What is solidification?
The earliest amphibians came about during this period.
What is the Devonian Period?
The igneous rock is made from (virtually only) olivine.
What is dunite?
Muscovite and biotite are two kinds of this specific mineral, often found in foliated metamorphic rocks.
What is mica?
Gneiss exhibits this property in which minerals are separated into light and dark layers.
What is banding?
[Half-credit allowed for "foliation," since that is just referencing an alignment of crystals in metamorphic rocks, not specifically dark and light bands.]
Weathering & erosion of rocks result in these.
What are sediments?
North America and Africa began to separate during this era.
What is the Mesozoic Era?
This is made from metamorphism of dolostone or limestone.
What is marble?
This mineral shares its name with the only element it is composed of.
What is sulfur?
Erosion may remove a lot of rock material when wearing down mountains, exposing the deep metamorphic core of the mountains that once lay deep below the surface. Because these rocks were pushed to the surface when the mountains formed (a pressure-related process), this is the specific type of metamorphism at play.
What is regional metamorphism?
This rock is the only type of rock that must have started as another rock.
What is metamorphic rock?
This is the number of years it's been since the mass extinction of trilobites, according to the 2011 Earth Science Reference Tables.
What is 251 million years ago?
Seemingly not undergoing as much abrasion or erosion as some other rocks and grains, this rock is known specifically for being made of angular fragments compacted/cemented together.
What is breccia?