Rocks

Three Types of rock

•Igneous
•Sedimentary
•Metamorphic
Q: So how do we get such different
rocks?
They all look and act so differently, how do they all form?

Igneous Rocks?

Sedimentary Rocks?

Metamorphic Rocks?
 A: The Rock Cycle!!!
The process of rocks changing from
one type of rock to another

Igneous Rocks

Sedimentary Rocks

Main Concept: Any rock type can be changed

into any of the other two and back again
through the Rock Cycle Metamorphic
depending onRocks
conditions
 The type of igneous rock depends on how fast it cooled!
Igneous
Rocks

All Igneous rock comes from molten material

Molten material comes from volcanoes

 How to get Igneous Rocks:
Melting of IsMaterial
made from exploding material up here

Is made from cooled magma down here

Can you see the big

Cooling Magma differences
Explosive Volcanism
in these two rocks?

Large Crystals Lots of holes

 Weathering
• All the “elements”: rain, wind, animals, plants, ice and even
simply a release of pressure can cause the chemical bonds
in rocks to break apart.
• The process of breaking the bonds in rock and making it
“softer” is called: Weathering!
 Erosion
• After a rock has been weathered, it is easy to break.
• If a rock breaks into pieces it becomes easier to move from
one place to another.
• The movement of rock pieces and or soil from one place to
another by natural processes is called: Erosion!

The cliff is slowly falling down! The pile of sediments here used
to be part of this cliff!
 Sedimentary Rock
=cemented sediments
This Sandstone in Utah is made from sand
that has been cemented together

The sand here is loose and not cemented together

Can you see the different

layers of sand?
 Sedimentary Rock Recipe
1. Start at the
Surface

2. Weather (Break Up)

3. Erode (Carry Away)

4. Sedimentation & Layers of sand and sediments

Rain moves sand, dirt, and
Deposition rocks down to the ocean

5. Compaction &
Cementation

Igneous rock
Sediments worn away
gather here!
© Beadle, 2009
 How to get Sedimentary
Rocks:
Weathering Erosion Deposition Cementation

Rocks get broken down

by exposure to water,
wind, etc…
Broken down sediments
are transported towards the sea
and spread out

Broken down rocks fall

apart
Water and pressure helps bond the
particles of sediment together
to make a rock
 Weathering
This is what it (Rock broken down by exposure to
looks like in rain, wind, etc..)
real life:

Cementation
(eventually pieces get
stuck together and
becomes a rock)

Erosion
(pieces fall down to
bottom of cliff)

Deposition
(smaller pieces are spread out
across area)
Rivers can do a lot
of this on their own:

You can see lots of sediments

flowing in the river

Deposition is taking
place when the river
meets the ocean

You can see lots of sediments spreading out!

 Evaporation:
New rocks can be formed when water is evaporated

When the water leaves, the electrons of the chemicals

that make up the rocks are attracted to each other and
cause clumps of rock to form from the small particles
left behind.
Now all that is left are salty rocks that form a dry lake bed

There used to be a nice

deep ocean here
But then the water evaporated…
 Pressure and Heat Lead to
Metamorphic Rocks
• Rocks that get buried again can get
squished and heated to the point that
they change!
This rock is called
“Gneiss” (nice).

Q: Can you remember what it

has “morphed” from?
A: Granite!!!

If you look closely, you can see

the same minerals in both rocks!
The rock cycle is an active process that you can
see just about everywhere outside:
The white tops of these
mtn’s are granite= Igneous

Erosion is actively breaking

down the mountains
(forming canyons!)

Deposition:
minerals from the Granite
spreading out as sand!
(This makes the soil of the valley)
Soil is basically all the small broken up pieces of rocks!
Broken down tons of times into smaller
and smaller sediments
Underneath all the sand,
sediment is being compacted
=Sedimentary
The Real Rock Cycle

***You will need to know the process

to make each type of rock!
Rock Cycle with illustrations:
Let’s connect the rock
cycle with plate
tectonics!

Q: What rock will we get

if two continental plates collide?

Plate motion
Plate motion Cooler Crust

Convection current Convection current

Hot Mantle
Continental plate collides with Continental Plate causing mountains to form!

Compression Plate motion

Plate motion

= Metamorphic

Hot Magma
 Continental collides with Oceanic:

Cloud will bringExplosion

Volcanic falling water
Extrusive Igneous Rock
Label where metamorphic,
igneous & sedimentary rocks
are formed as the numbers
appear: 6 6

6
7
5
2 plate motion
plate motion
3

3
4
1 Hot Mantle
Divergent Convergent
 Cloud
Plate Tectonics Rock Cycle
Key: Notice where
metamorphic, igneous &
sedimentary rocks are
processed & formed.

Intrusive Igneous
Metamorphic
Sedimentary Sedimentary

Extrusive Igneous Metamorphic

Melted rock
Intrusive Igneous
 Assessment:
Identify where the
terms/description on the left
should go in the rock cycle on the
right

• Heat,
Pressure
• Extrusive
(Volcanic
Eruptions)
• Deposition
&
Cementatio
n
• Melting
• Intrusive
(Cooling &
Crystallizatio
n)
• Weathering
& Erosion