Student Name: EDDIE Yeung

Earth Science
The purpose of this lab is to
• acquaint students with rock types found in or near Vancouver
• identity and classify igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks
• compare and contrast the minerals found in igneous rocks

Section A: Rock type in the Vancouver Region

Using the the website http://geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca/vancouver/index_e.php, please answer the
following questions.
1. What types of rocks are found in Stanley Park, Prospect Point?

Sandstone sedimentary rock

2. What types of rocks are found in Stanley Park, Ferguson Point ?

layered sandstone sedimentary rock

3. What types of rocks are found at Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver?

Old basalt igneous

4. What is the Stawamus Chief Mountain, locally known as ‘the Chief’ made from?
Granite igneous

5. What type of rock is found at Whistler?

Metamorphic

Using the poster Geoscape Vancouver: Living with our Geological Landscape, please answer the
following questions.

1. What type of rocks are found at Mount Garibaldi?

Volcanic rock (lave) igneous

2. What type of minerals are found in

a. Granitic rocks?
Granitic rock hosts important copper, nickel, tin, gold, and building stone resources.

b. Metamorphic rocks?

copper, zinc, lead, nickel, silver, and gold.

c. Sedimentary rocks?
It hosts important tar sand, heavy oil, coal, uranium, and groundwater resources.
 3. Where are sand and gravel deposits located? WHY???
Rivers flowing into the Strait of Georgia at the end of the ice age left thick sand and gravel
deltas where they met the sea. These deltas now lie high above modern sea level because
the land rose after the weight of the glacier ice was removed.

4. If you were downtown Vancouver, and you just kept digging, what would you
find? Please draw the various layers and include dates.

five major rock types in the Vancouver area.

(1) granitic

(2) metamorphic rocks

(3) sedimentary rock (sandstone and shale). Volcanic intrusions

(4) fill fractures within granitic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Younger volcanic
rocks

(5) older granitic and metamorphic rocks.

Each rock type is an aggregate of minerals. The different colour, texture, hardness, porosity
and chemistry of each rock type reflects the different type, shape and size of their mineral
constituents.

Section B: Classification and Description of Rock Types

Using your textbook, rock cycle sheets, rock books & internet please complete the following table. When completing the
classification, please include the following:
• Igneous rocks – extrusive or intrusive?
• Sedimentary rocks – clastic, chemical or organic?
• Metamorphic rocks – foliated or non-foliated?

http://jersey.uoregon.edu/~mstrick/AskGeoMan/geoQuerry13.html

Rock # Name Classification Notes (for your own

use)
Granite intrusive, felsic, have a medium- to
igneous rock coarse-grained
texture.
1
Quartz Diorite igneous, plutonic grey to black and
(intrusive) rock, of fine-grained due to
felsic composition, rapid cooling of
2
with phaneritic lava at the surface
texture of a planet
Basalt Igneous rocks
extrusive volcanic
rock
3
Shale fine-grained, clastic composed of mud
sedimentary rock that is a mix of
flakes of clay
4
minerals and tiny
fragments (silt-sized
particles)
Sandstone sedimentary rock Most sandstone is
composed mainly of composed of quartz
sand-sized minerals and/or feldspar
5
or rock grains
Limestone Sedimentary rock different crystal
composed largely of forms of calcium
the minerals calcite carbonate
6
and/or aragonite, are
(CaCO3)
Obsidian naturally occurring It is produced when
volcanic glass felsic lava extruded
formed as an from a volcano cools
rapidly without crystal
7
extrusive igneous growth. Obsidian is
rock commonly found
within the margins of
rhyolitic lava flows
known as obsidian
flows
 Rhyolite igneous, volcanic
(extrusive) rock, of
felsic (silica-rich)
8
composition
Marble metamorphic rock
composed of
recrystallized
9
carbonate minerals,
most commonly
calcite or dolomite
Serpentine Metamorphic,Non-
foliated
major rock forming
10
mineral and is found
as a constituent in
many metamorphic
and weather igneous
rocks
metamorphic rock, composed of the
Soapstone Non-foliated to mineral talc and is
weakly-foliated; thus rich in
Fine-grained magnesium

11
Rose Quartz essential constituent aused by trace
of granite and other amounts of
felsic igneous rocks. phosphate or
aluminium.
12 macrocrystalline
variety of the
mineral Quartz
13 Conglomerate sedimentary rocks consisting of
clastic individual clasts
within a finer-
grained matrix that
have become
cemented together
Pyrite iron sulfide with the mineral's metallic
formula FeS2 luster and pale-to-
normal, brass-
14
yellow hue have
earned it the
nickname fool's
gold
 1. Three common minerals found is granite are feldspar (which may be a white
color), quartz, (which may be a clear crystal) and mica, (which may be a black
crystal. Compare the quartz diorite to the granite please answer the following
questions:

a. Which rock (granite or quartz diorite) has the largest crystals?

About the same .Diorite is another phaneritic igneous rock. Like granite, it
formed by slow cooling inside the crust of the Earth

b. Which rock (granite or quarts diorite) has the greater amount of mica?

Granite. diorite forms deep in the earth's crust from cooling magma - just
like granite. But, the magma does not contain a lot of quartz or the light
colored minerals that make up the granite. But it contains only dark colored
minerals.Unlike granite, diorite has no mica, or very little, and those are
dark colored. It is coarse grained

2. Is the texture of basalt more fine grained or less coarse grained than granite?
What does this indicate?

The size of mineral grains within an igneous rock depends on how fast or slow it cools off.
Granite forms from magma which cools off very slowly deep inside the crust of the earth,
so as a result it has large crystals

Basalt forms from lava on the earths surface, so it cools off very rapidly. The rapid cooling
does not allow enough time for coarse grained crystals to form within the rock. So as a
result basalt tends to have a finer texture, or smaller grain size.

3. What is the rocks is more fine-grained, limestone or sandstone? How are these
two rocks similar? How are they different?

Sandstone is formed from sediments of small grains, usually quartz. The individual grains
may be visible, and can be loosely cemented. Limestone usually is composed of finer
grained material of calcite origin
Limestone will react in slightly acidic solutions because of the chemical reaction of calcium
carbonate with acid. Sandstones will not. Sandstone is usually derived from near shore
deposits. Limestone is usually derived from deeper sea deposits.
 4. What is the parent rock of marble? Compare the parent rock sample to marble?
How is it similar? How is it different?

Limestone (parent rock of Marble) sedimentary rock

composed largely of the calcite Like most other sedimentary
rocks, limestones are composed of grains; however, most
grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of marine
organisms
Name Marble
Marble is a rock resulting from metamorphism of Non-
sedimentary carbonate rocks. Primary sedimentary textures foliated;
and structures of the original carbonate rock have typically Texture Medium- to
been modified or destroyed. coarse-
grained
Composition Calcite

5 .Compare and contrast soapstone & serpentine. Both a metamorphic rocks

Name Serpentinite Name Soapstone

Non-foliated to weakly- Non-foliated to weakly-
Texture Texture
foliated; Variable grain size foliated; Fine-grained
Composition Serpentine Composition Talc
Serpentinite composed of one or more serpentine group minerals. Minerals in this group
are formed by serpentinization
Soapstone (steatite or soaprock) is a metamorphic rock, a talc-schist. It is largely composed
of the mineral talc and is thus rich in magnesium.