Download rock cycle vocabulary - Greenup County School

1. rock – a solid substance that is a mixture of minerals, rock fragments, volcanic
glass, organic matter or other natural materials
2. rock cycle – a model that describes how rocks slowly change from one form to
another through time
3. mineral – a naturally occurring inorganic solid that has a definite chemical
composition, found in rocks
4. sedimentary rock – a type of rock, such as limestone, that is most likely to contain
fossils and is formed when layers of sand, silt, clay, or mud are cemented and
compacted together or when minerals are deposited from a solution
5. metamorphic rock – a rock that forms when heat, pressure, or fluids act on
igneous, sedimentary, or other metamorphic rock to change its form or
composition, or both
6. igneous rock – rock formed when magma or lava cools and hardens
7. lava – molten rock that flows from volcanoes onto Earth’s surface
8. magma – hot, melted rock material beneath Earth’s surface
9. compaction – process that forms sedimentary rocks when layers of sediments are
compressed by the weight of layers above them
10.cementation – sedimentary rock-forming process in which sediment grains are
held together by natural cements that are produced when water moves through
rock and soil
11.sediments – loose materials, such as rock fragments, mineral grains, and the
remains of once-living plants and animals that have been moved by wind, water,
ice, or gravity
12.weathering – breaking down of rock into smaller pieces
13.erosion – movement of soil, or weathered rock pieces from one place to another
14.organic – refers to living, or formerly living material
15.coal – organic sedimentary rock formed from the remains of plants