Name:_________________________
Date of test:_____________
Doc:_____________
Rocks Study Guide
Be sure to review your labs, notes, textbook, and graphic organizers.
You will have a lab practical portion to the test.
This is used to help you study, it is not the only thing you should study.
1. What is a rock?__a mixture of minerals. It is solid, and naturally made
2. What are the 3 types of rocks? ____Igneous________
___Sedimentary___
__Metamorphic____
3. Match the 3 types of rocks to the way that they are produced:
Word bank:
Igneous
Metamorphic
Sedimentary
a. ___Igneous____Produced from melted or molten rock cooling. Volcanic. Magma or lava cooling.
b. __Sedimentary_Produced from lots of weathered and eroded rocks or organisms that have been
deposited, compressed, and cemented together. The process of gluing sediments into stone is called
lithification.
c. ___Metamorphic__Produced from adding heat and or pressure to existing rocks to produce a new rock
called a daughter rock.
4. Label the rock cycle and be able to explain what is going on.
Word bank:
Igneous
Melted rocks
Metamorphic
Sedimentary
Sediment
Igneous
Weathering
& erosion
Cooling
crystallization
Sediments
Melted rocks
(lava & magma)
Deposition, compaction,
cementation (lithification)
Melting
Sedimentary
Metamorphic
Heat
Pressure
One type of rock can become ANY other type of rock.
Igneous Rock
5. How are igneous rocks formed? ____The cooling and crystallization of lava and magma________
6. Why can’t you find fossils in igneous rock?__The lava/magma would melt them.______________ ______
Mineral Content- Felsic vs Mafic:
7. __Mafic________rocks are dense and have little silica, but lots of magnesium and iron. They are usually a
DARK color.
8. ___Felsic________rocks are less dense and have lots silica and feldspar. They are usually a LIGHT color.
Origin, cooling rate & Texture:
quickly
glassy
very quickly
slowly
porphyritic
large
Word bank:
coarse-grained
fine grained
coarse-grains on a fine background
small
9. Intrusive rocks form from the cooling of magma within the earth’s crust. This magma cools
__Slowly________ and as a result ____Coarse_-grained (LARGE crystals) forms.
10. Extrusive rocks form from the cooling of lava on the surface of earth’s crust.
A. Lava flowing down the side of a volcano cools __quickly___ and as a result ___fine__-grained
(small crystals) forms.
B. Lava that cools in the air cools __VERY quickly___ and as a result has a __glassy__ texture which
means that no crystals are visible. Note: pumice and scoria look like rocky sponges. They do not look
like glass, but are still glassy because they have no visible crystals.
11. Porphyritic rocks started cooling slowly and ended cooling quickly. As a result they have a porphyritic
texture which is described as having both ___large and small crystals___.
12. Be able to look at a rock and tell its mineral content, origin, cooling rate, and texture.
Mineral content: Mafic (dark) or felsic (light)
Origin
Cooling
Rate
Texture
Intrusive
slow
Extrusive
Fast or
REALLY fast
Fine-grained
or glassy
Porphyritic
Slow then fast
CoarseBOTH large
grained
& small
(small
or
none)
(large)
crystals
13. What is the relationship between origin and crystal size? _The longer it takes to cool, the larger the
crystal size, to intrusive rocks are always coarse grained and extrusive rocks are always fine or glassy_
Reread your igneous rock notes and try to draw the volcano diagram you drew.
Sedimentary Rock
14. Sedimentary rocks are formed by the LITHIFICATION of sediments. List and describe the 5 steps.
Step
Description
1. WEATHERING
Breaking rock into small sediments. Can be chemical or mechanical. Ex.
Abrasion, ice wedging, animals and plants, acid rain etc.
2. EROSION
Moving sediments to a new area by wind, water, gravity etc.
3. DEPOSITION
When sediments settle into a new area.
4. COMPACTION
Pressing and squeezing sediments together.
5. CEMENTATION
Minerals fill in the spaces between sediments and glue / cement them into a
rock.
15. The law of superposition states that layers that are deeper down must have been deposited first and are
therefore older than the layers above them.
In the diagram below which letter layer is the oldest?__C______ newest?___A____
16. What is stratification and why can it happen?___Layers of sediments deposited over time. Older layers
deposited first and newer layers get deposited on top of them._____________
17. Is there a relationship between the type of sedimentary rock and if it is stratified?__No, not all stratified
rocks are the same type. Ex. Coal is organic and stratified and sandstone is clastic and stratified. Not all
organic and not all clastic are stratified. There is no relationship between formation and stratification of
sedimentary rocks.__
18. What are the 3 types of sedimentary rock? How is each formed? Word bank: clastic, chemical, organic
a.___Clastic________bits of other rocks compressed and cemented together.(pebbles, mud, sand, clay).
b.___Organic_______bits of organisms that were once alive glue together by minerals.
c.___Chemical______formed by evaporation or precipitation of minerals out of a solution.
19. Why is coal organic sedimentary?___It is formed from the remains of plants______________
20. Circle the stratified rock(s) pictured below. Label each as clastic (CL) , chemical (CH) or organic (O)
Conglomerate
Sandstone
Coquina (made of shells)
Coal (from plants)
Geode
__CLASTIC__
_CLASTIC__
__ORGANIC___
__ORGANIC___
__CHEMICAL__
Reread your sedimentary rock notes and the graphic organizers you completed.
Metamorphic Rock
dynamic
21. Complete the diagram with the following words: (one word is used 2 times)
thermal
contact
local
regional
heat
pressure
foliated
non foliated
DYNAMIC
Area size = ____Regional__________
___THERMAL_____or _____CONTACT______
Area size=___Local_______
magma
Mountain building & Tectonic Plates
high__Heat________&___Pressure____
cause minerals to layer in the rocks.
Layered rocks are called __Foliated____
Near magma chambers
____Heat____
causes minerals to chemically change
These rocks do not have layers so they
are ___Non-foliated_____
22. The following image shows foliation. Which kind of metamorphism produces foliation?_Dynamic__
23. Why does dynamic metamorphism produce foliation and thermal/contact doesn’t?_______________
_Dynamic metamorphism involves heat AND pressure and pressure is needed for foliation to occur.
Thermal/Contact metamorphism only provides heat so foliation cannot occur._(this is known as a
causative relationship. Dynamic metamorphism CAUSES foliation.___
24. Why are metamorphic rocks called daughter rocks?__They come from other parent rocks.__________
25. Which types of rocks can be parent rocks?__Any rock type of rock can be a parent rock.______
26. Why would fossils be deformed if they were found in metamorphic rock?_The heat and pressure are
great enough to deform rocks AND the fossils they contain._
27. Look at the image of gneiss to the left, is gneiss foliated or non-foliated?__Foliated___
28. Is gneiss formed by Dynamic or Thermal/Contact metamorphism?_
Dynamic because it is foliated._
Reread your metamorphic notes. Be able to identify a rock as foliated or non-foliated.
29. ALL ROCKS: Identify the following statements as Igenous ( I ), Sedimentary (S) or Metamorphic (M):
_S__ stratified or unstratified __ M ___foliated or nonfoliated
_ M _regional or local
__ S ___most likely to have fossils
_ I__magma & lava
__ I ___intrusive & extrusive
__ M ___heat & pressure
__ I ___ felsic or mafic
__ M ___deep in the earth
__ I __surface/volcanoes
__ M __changed by magma, mountains or tectonics
__ S ___clastic, organic, chemical
__ M___ deformed fossils
__ S ____ lithification
__ M ____parent and daughter
__ S ____ layers over time
__ I _____coarse, fine, or glassy texture