Directions: Place the correct rock type in the appropriate oval of the rock cycle.
Igneous- In everyday usage, the word igneous means, “related to fire.” In earth science,
igneous refers to rocks that form from cooled, hardened magma or lava after a volcano erupts.
Both uses can be traced to the Latin root ignus, which means, “fire.” Some other words you
may know that share this root are ignite and ignition.
Sedimentary – The word sediment means “materials that settle to the bottom of a liquid.” It is
used to refer to material that has settled out of a liquid or air to be deposited on a surface.
Sedimentary rocks form from compressed or cemented deposits of sediment. All of the
meanings can be traced back to the Latin word for “settling,” sedimentum, which in turn is from
the Latin word for “to sit,” sedere.
Metamorphic – The word metamorphosis refers to any kind of change or transformation. In
biology, the word is used to describe the process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. In
earth science, the adjective form, metamorphic, is used to describe rocks that are formed from
other rocks through heat, pressure or chemical processes. These words all come from the Latin
word metamorphosis, which means, “change.”