Rocks
What is a rock’s favorite cereal?
Coco pebbles!
What’s a rock’s favorite golf course?
Pebble Beach!
Look at the three different rocks at your
table.
Discuss with your table mates:
What makes these 3 rocks different?
Differences: color, size, shape, texture
What do they have in common?
Similarity: all are made of smaller pieces (grains)
Types of Rocks
Igneous Rocks
Metamorphic Rocks
Sedimentary Rocks
Cemented together
Sedimentary Rocks
How are they are made?
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Wind and water break down the earth
Bits of earth settle in lakes and rivers
Layers are formed and build up
Pressure and time turn the layers to rock
Sedimentary Rock
clastic
non-clastic
broken pieces of rock
chemical
organic
(a precipitate
(remains of plants
comes out of
& animals)
water solution)
eg. Stalactites/stalagmites
Sedimentary Rocks
Where do you think sedimentary rocks
would be formed/found near?
streams
rivers
oceans
beaches
deserts
glaciers
coral reefs
Types of Sedimentary Rocks
Sandstone
Limestone
Gypsum
Conglomerate
Shale
Metamorphic Rocks
How are they made?
Meta means “change” so these are rocks
that have changed.
 They were once igneous, sedimentary, or
other metamorphic rocks.
 Pressure and heat cause the change.

Metamorphic Rock
foliated
“leafy”
flattened &
layered minerals
slate
nonfoliated
no banding
quartzite
These rocks are physically deformed and
chemically changed due to temperature and
pressure changes but the rock does not melt!
Where are metamorphic rocks
likely formed/found near?
In fault zones
Mountain belts
Mid-ocean ridges
Types of Metamorphic Rocks
Schist
Gneiss
Igneous Rocks
What are They?
Ignis is Latin for “fire”-igneous rocks are fire
rocks
 Formed underground by trapped, cooled magma
 Formed above ground when volcanoes erupt and
magma cools

light colored
eg. quartz
dark colored
eg. Iron & magnesium containing
mafic
felsic
Igneous Rock
intrusive
(plutonic)
extrusive
(volcanic)
large crystals &
coarse texture
Glassy/smooth & small
crystals usually not even
visible
Where are igneous rocks likely
formed/found near?
Mid-ocean ridges
Subduction zones
volcanoes
Types of Igneous Rocks
Granite
Scoria
Pumice
Obsidian
Idioms and Expressions to Ponder
Heart of stone
unaffectionate, unforgiving, cold
Head full of rocks
acted without thinking intelligently
Stuck between a rock and a hard place
in a situation where you have to make a decision
that has no good options or solution
Every rock tells a story about:
•how it formed
•the environment where it has been
•what it has experienced
Each of these stories is an adventure.
We need to learn how to read a rock
like we read a book.
Roundness and Sorting
Roundness – presence or absence of corners and
sharp edges
Particles get rounder as they are transported.
Sorting - is a texture that indicates how long the
sediments have been in the water system.
Poorly sorted sediments show a wide range of
grain sizes; well-sorted ones have similar sized
grains. Sorting increases with transportation.
low
energy
High
Energy
Rock Cycle
Activity
Check the drawer. See which table
can put together the rock cycle
diagram first!