Name: _____________________________________           Period: __________                Date: _____________

 

What are the three different types of rocks?

 

            There are three main types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.  Go to the Rock Unit section of the HTH website (http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~abrahaml/hth/rocks/rocks.htm) and click on the name of the activity to aid your guided research.  If you see words or phrases underlined, it means there is a hyperlink to information that will help you answer to the question.  After you have completed your research, complete the synthesis table as your notes for this unit.

 

Igneous Rocks

 

1. How are igneous rocks formed?

 

 

 

2. The two major types of igneous rocks are extrusive and intrusive.  Use this website to complete the chart with information about these two types of igneous rocks.

 

 

3. Based on what you have learned, how does the rate of cooling of the magma affect the size of the crystals?

 

 

4. Texture is the size, shape, and pattern of the rock’s grains.  Complete the chart using the following information.

 

a. Identify AND define the three major textures of igneous rock using this website.

b. Next, click the labeled features on this animation to see the different conditions under which the different-sized crystals form.

 

 

 

Sedimentary Rocks

 

Use this website to answer the following questions:

 

1. How are sedimentary rocks formed?

 

 

 

 

2. In your own words, what is sediment?

 

 

 

3. Watch this animation to see how water deposits the sediment at the bottom of the ocean.

 

            a. What are some other ways that sediment can be transported?

 

 

 

4. Watch this animation AND describe how sediment is compacted and cemented together to form sedimentary rock.

 

 

 

 

 

5. What do you observe about the way that the sediment has accumulated in these examples of sedimentary rock?

 

 

 

 

6. If you found a fish fossil on the bottom layer of a sedimentary rock, do you think that the fish lived a long time ago or fairly recently?  Explain.

 

 

 

 

Metamorphic Rocks

 

Metamorphic rocks form from igneous, sedimentary, and other metamorphic rocks.

 

Use this website to answer the following questions:

 

1. Metamorphic rocks require extreme ______________________ and _______________________ to form.

 

2. Using the sections “contact” and “regional” metamorphism, describe the two main ways that metamorphic rocks are formed.

 

            a.

 

 

            b.

                       

 

3. Look at the animation of igneous rock transforming into metamorphic rock.  Describe how extreme temperature and pressure cause an igneous rock to change into a metamorphic rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metamorphic rocks are classified by whether they have layers or not.  Use this website to answer the next two questions.

 

            4. What is the term that describes metamorphic rocks that have these layers?

 

 

 

            5. How did these layers form?

 

 

 

6. Using this website, describe how migmitite, a metamorphic rock, formed from sandstone, a sedimentary rock, due to extreme temperature and pressure.

 

 

Synthesis Table