Download Earth History – Study Guide Investigations: Sedimentary Rocks +

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Earth History – Study Guide
Investigations: Sedimentary Rocks + The Rock Cycle
Directions: Answer these questions on a separate sheet of paper. You do NOT have to
use complete sentences.
Sedimentary Rocks:
1. Give two examples of sedimentary rocks.
2. What are the three main processes that cause Earth’s surface to wear down?
3. What is physical weathering?
4. Name and describe three types of physical weathering.
5. What is chemical weathering?
6. Name and describe three types of chemical weathering.
7. What is erosion?
8. Name and describe two types of erosion.
9. What does the shape of sand have to do with its history?
a. What kinds of particles are produced by glaciers?
b. What kinds of particles are produced by streams, wind, or waves?
c. What do highly rounded grains indicate?
10. Where do river sediments often accumulate?
11. Where do windblown sediments often accumulate?
12. Name two other places where sediments can accumulate.
13. What type of rock is most easily broken down by carbonic acid?
14. What are the four natural forces that cause erosion?
15. Of the four from question 14, which is the most powerful natural force that causes
erosion?
16. What are clastic rocks?
17. What is another name for strata?
18. What do mud cracks indicate?
19. What is mass movement?
20. Which size particle does wind carry farther, and which would deposit first?
21. What is an example of oxidation?
22. Which Grand Canyon rock layer is the oldest (bottom, middle, or top)?
23. What is lithification, and what are the three processes that fall into that category?
24. What material is a resistant material that provides a great deal of information to
geologists?
The Rock Cycle:
1. Draw a cross section of the Earth and label the troposphere, inner core, outer
core, mantle, and crust.
2. Answer the following questions about pumice, granite, schist, and marble:
a. Be able to recognize and name it.
b. What type of rock is it?
i. If it is igneous, is it intrusive or extrusive?
ii. If it is metamorphic, what is its source rock?
3. How do igneous rocks form?
4. Where do extrusive igneous rocks form, and what is a common characteristic?
5. Where do intrusive igneous rocks form, and what is a common characteristic?
6. How do metamorphic rocks form?
7. What characteristic is common to metamorphic rocks?
8. What is the rock cycle?
9. When a metamorphic or igneous rock melts, what substance is formed?
10. Name two characteristics of sedimentary rocks.
11. What type of igneous rock makes up most of the ocean floor?
12. What geologic process can change an igneous rock into a metamorphic rock?
13. Know the processes and order of the rock cycle (you may want to draw it here
or insert a picture).