Name _________________________________________________ Period ___________ Date ____________
Study Guide: Rock Cycle, Weathering, Erosion, Soils
You will need your notes, video notes, and textbook to complete this study guide.
1. Explain the rock cycle.
2. List the three major types of rocks.
3. Which rock type forms at divergent plate boundaries? What forms at convergent plates?
4. Which igneous rock cooled faster—granite or obsidian? How can you tell by looking at
them?
5. Describe the sequence of steps that happens to make sedimentary rock from the dust
eroded off of exposed granite.
6. List and describe the three sub-categories of sedimentary rock.
7. Why do most sedimentary rocks often form under water?
8. If gneiss (a metamorphic rock) undergoes high temperatures (but not high enough to
melt gneiss) and high pressures depth within Earth, what type of rock (igneous,
sedimentary, or metamorphic) will be formed?
9. Explain what the term “parent rock” in metamorphic rock formation means.
10. Why is slate (metamorphic) better for writing on than sandstone (sedimentary)?
11. Why do most metamorphic rocks form deep in the earth?
12. You find many igneous rocks in an area. What can you conclude about the area?
13. Use your notes and the figure on page 139 of your textbook to help you complete the
graphic below, filling in terms at letters A through K:
K
J
14. Starting with a metamorphic rock, describe the sequence of steps in the rock cycle that
could lead to the formation of an igneous rock.
15. Compare (similarities and differences) the two types of weathering, and give an example
for each one.
16. Pick a type of erosion and use it to explain what erosion is.
17. What is soil, and why is it important?
18. Why are people worldwide worried about soil erosion?
19. List and explain at least two human causes of soil erosion.
20. Describe at least two ways that soil erosion can be prevented.