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What’s that rock?
Although there are hundreds of different rock types, geologists classify rocks in three
groups according to the major processes that formed them. These three groups are
igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.
Complete these three sentences:
 ................................. rocks are formed from melted rock that has cooled and solidified.
 ................................... rocks are formed in layers at the surface of the Earth, either in
water or on land.
 ................................... rocks have been subjected to pressures so intense or heat so high
that they are completely changed.
1. Cut out and correctly match the diagrams, the statements and the images to the
correct rock examples on the next page.
2. Identify the correct rock group, igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic for the
following ten rocks:

basalt

marble

chalk

mudstone

gneiss

pumice

granite

sandstone

limestone

slate
3. Write one sentence to describe the image below.
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What’s that rock?
Igneous
may show evidence
of re-crystallisation
sandstone or
limestone
Sedimentary
can be made up of
interlocking crystals
that form when
molten rock cools
gneiss or slate
Metamorphic
can be made up of
grains of sediment
that have
been weathered
basalt or granite
© www.teachitscience.co.uk 2015
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What’s that rock?
Answers
1. Complete these three sentences:

Igneous rocks are formed from melted rock that has cooled and solidified

Sedimentary rocks are formed in layers at the surface of the Earth, either in
water or on land.

Metamorphic rocks have been subjected to pressures so intense or heat so
high that they are completely changed.
2.
Igneous
can be made up of
interlocking crystals
that form when molten
rock cools
basalt or granite
Sedimentary
can be made up of
grains of sediment that
have
been weathered
sandstone or
limestone
Metamorphic
may show evidence of
re-crystallisation
gneiss or slate
3.
Igneous
Sedimentary
Metamorphic
basalt
chalk
gneiss
granite
limestone
marble
mudstone
pumice
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What’s that rock?
4. A suggested answer is ‘Advancing lava has destroyed another house in Kalapana.’
The image is of one of more than 100 houses destroyed by
the 1990 lava flow in Kalapana in Hawaii. The Kilauea
volcano responsible for this lava flow has erupted
continuously since 2007.
© United States Geological Survey 1990
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kalapana_house_destroyed_by_lava.jpg
Additional material is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalapana,_Hawaii and
http://hawaiianlavadaily.blogspot.co.uk/.
A seven minute video from www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYfd31hf2jM shows the
destruction of houses and gardens as well as the lava advancing along tarmac roads in
the 1990 eruption.
The video at www.bigislandvideonews.com/2010/11/29/video-kalapana-lava-flowengulfs-home-on-hawaii-island/ shows homes being destroyed in Kalapana in the
November 2010 eruption.
A two minute video at www.bigislandvideonews.com/2011/01/12/video-kalapana-lavaflow-update-on-hawaii-island/ shows the remaining areas of vegetation as ‘islands
surrounded by lava at Kalapana.’
Image credits:
Gneiss, a metamorphic rock from near Geirangerfjord, Norway.
© Siim Sepp 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Migma_ss_2006.jpg
A volcanic eruption on Mount Merapi in central Java, Indonesia.
© Walter Lim 2010 https://flic.kr/p/8P5DFt
Sandstone bedding approximately 140 million years old near Lima in
Peru.
© Miguel Vera 2007 https://flic.kr/p/Nk52g
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