Rocks and Earth Processes

Rock

A combination of one or more minerals or organic matter

Sedimentary Rock

Forms when sediment from older rocks get pressed (compacted) and cemented together.

Metamorphic Rock

Forms when pressure, temperature, or chemical processes change existing rock.

Igneous rock

Forms from the cooling of molten rock at or below the surface

Intrusive igneous rock

Igneous rock formed from the slow cooling and solidification of magma beneath Earth's surface

Extrusive igneous rock

Igneous rock formed from the fast cooling and solidification of lava at Earth's surface

Weathering

The breaking down of rocks and other materials on the Earth's surface.

Erosion

The process by which wind, water, ice, or gravity transports soil and sediment from one location to another

Deposition

Process in which sediment is laid down in new locations.

Cementation

The process by which dissolved minerals crystallize and glue particles of sediment together into one mass.

Compaction

the process by which sediments are pressed together under their own weight.

Coal

A rock and fossil fuel that forms underground - the only rock made out of organic material!

Organic material

Materials that were once part of living things

Rock Cycle

A series of processes on the surface and inside Earth that slowly and continuously changes rocks from one kind to another.

Sediment

small, solid pieces of material that come from rocks or living things

Soil

A mixture of broken down mineral particles and organic material that covers the land, and in which plants grow.

Metamorphism

the process in which one type of rock changes due to temperature and pressure

Foliated

the texture of metamorphic rock in which the mineral grains are arranged in thin or wavy planes or bands

Lithosphere

A rigid layer made up of the uppermost part of the mantle and the crust

Plate Boundary

The region where two tectonic plates are in contact

Magma

A molten mixture of rock-forming substances, gases, and water from the mantle

Lava

Magma that reaches Earth's surface

Tectonic plate

Sections of the Earth's crust that move due to convection currents.