Rock Cycle Exercise

Overview

Match the correct rock from the garden with the statements or questions below.

Igneous Rocks

1. The rock that might contain gold.
2. The most common rock found in the earth’s continental crust.
3. The heaviest rock in the garden.
4. The rock with the bubble holes called “vesicles”.
5. A rock that resulted from the formation of the Appalachian Mountains.
6. The rocks that have no crystalline structure because they cooled too quickly for crystals to grow.

Sedimentary Rocks

1. This rock was formed from rounded pebbles deposited in a stream bed.
2. This rock is the oldest labeled rock in the garden.
3. This rock is composed of silt and clay particles deposited in a low Energy environment.
4. The rock that was once wind-blown sand in a desert region of the western United States.
5. This rock has a sedimentary structure called “ripple marks” on its surface.
6. A famous fort in Saint Augustine, Florida, was built from this rock type.
7. These rocks were formed about 50-million years ago from the shells of marine animals such as snails, clams and corals.
8. This rock was once a limestone, but the original mineral was dissolved and replaced with microscopic crystals of quartz.
9. Which Rock was formed from the remains of an ancient coral reef?

Metamorphic Rocks

1. What Conditions were present to cause both marble and quartzite to form?
2. What mineral is quartzite made from?
3. How did the quartzite boulder get its rounded shape?
4. What are some uses for marble rock?
5. What rock was metamorphosed to form marble?
6. Besides marble, what other kinds of rock are present in the “marble” boulder?
7. What does the word “augen” mean?
8. When you look at the gneiss boulders in the garden, what minerals make up the dark bands?
9. What minerals make up the lighter bands in the gneiss boulders?
10. If the migmatite boulder was heated a little more, what type of rock might it have become upon cooling?
11. The petrified wood near the main sign is now composed of quartz. Should this rock be classified as Igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic? Igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary? (circle one).
12. The boulder on which the dinosaur footprints appear? Igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary? (circle one).
13. All of the limestones in the garden are? Igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary? (circle one).
14. The boulder that early Native Americans used to make tools and weapons? Igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary? (circle one).
15. At present, there are four benches in the garden; two are sandstone, one is a conglomerate and one is granite. Which major rock type is not represented? Igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary? (circle one).