STORY IN THE ROCKS
By Anna Moorhead, Summer Hatton, and Gavin
Jones
WEATHERING
WEATHERING is a process that decomposes
rock, and it occurs in place.
 CHEMICAL WEATHERING: involves a chemical
change in some of the minerals of a rock
 PHYSICAL WEATHERING: involves physically
breaking rocks into pieces.
 SEDIMENT is material eroded off of rocks that is
moved by water, wind, or ice.

ROCK WEATHERED BY WIND
HTTP://IMAGES.TRAVELPOD.COM/USERS/KITKROZSER/
1.1243715284.WEATHERED-ROCK.JPG
http://www.incadventures.com/images/grand-canyon-skywalk-rainbow485.gif
EROSION
EROSION is when a loosened rock piece is moved
by water, air, or ice.
 Moving water is its main agent.
 GRAVITY is the force that pulls things to the
center of Earth. It causes eroded material to
slide downhill.

THE GRAND CANYON—SCIENTISTS THINK IT WAS
ERODED AWAY BY ROCK.
HTTP://WWW.INCADVENTURES.COM/IMAGES/GRANDCANYON-SKYWALK-RAINBOW-485.GIF
ROCK CYCLE
The ROCK CYCLE is a model that explains how
the different types of rocks are formed.
 IGNEOUS ROCKS are rocks formed above and
below ground from magma or lava hardening
 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS are rocks that form
from pieces of rock carried downstream, dropped,
and harden into layered rock.
 METAMORPHIC ROCKS are rocks that have
“morphed” after being under tons of pressure and
heat underground.

HTTP://WWW.ROCKSANDMINERALS4U.COM/IMAGES/R
OCK-CYCLE-DIAGRAM-IM.JPG
FOSSILS AND THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE
FOSSILS are impressions/remains of a living
creature pressed or buried in rock.
 The GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE is the method
used to divide Earth’s natural history into
parts—it’s determined by rock and fossil finds.
 THE LAW OF SUPERPOSITION states that in
layers of undisturbed rock, the youngest layer is
on top and the oldest is on the bottom.

FISH FOSSIL AND ROCK LAYERS
http://www.mrdamon.com/photo_album/
fossils/fish_fossil.jpg
http://www.petrostrategies.org/ima
ges/rock09.JPG
LINKS
http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/geo/basics/diagrams.ht
m
 www.fi.edu/fellows/felow1/rocks/create/igneous.htm
 http://education.usgs.gov/schoolyard/RockSedimentary.
html
 www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow1/oct98/create/metamorph.ht
m
 www.dictionary.com
 www.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/misc/gwearo.htm
l
 www.watersheds.org/earth/erosion.htm
 www.wikipedia.org
