Name

Igneous rock Study Guide

Be sure to review your labs, notes, textbook, and graphic organizers.
You will have a lab practical portion to the test.
This is used to help you study, it is not the only thing you should study.
1. What is a rock?__a mixture of minerals. It is solid, and naturally made

One type of rock can become ANY other type of rock.

Igneous Rock
5. How are igneous rocks formed? ____The cooling and crystallization of lava and magma________
6. Why cant you find fossils in igneous rock?__The lava/magma would melt them.______________ ______
Mineral Content- Felsic vs Mafic:
7. __Mafic________rocks are dense and have little silica, but lots of magnesium and iron. They are usually a
DARK color.
8. ___Felsic________rocks are less dense and have lots silica and feldspar. They are usually a LIGHT color.
Origin, cooling rate & Texture:
quickly
glassy
very quickly

slowly
porphyritic
large

Word bank:
coarse-grained
fine grained
coarse-grains on a fine background
small

9. Intrusive rocks form from the cooling of magma within the earths crust. This magma cools
__Slowly________ and as a result ____Coarse_-grained (LARGE crystals) forms.
10. Extrusive rocks form from the cooling of lava on the surface of earths crust.
A. Lava flowing down the side of a volcano cools __quickly___ and as a result ___fine__-grained
(small crystals) forms.
B. Lava that cools in the air cools __VERY quickly___ and as a result has a __glassy__ texture which
means that no crystals are visible. Note: pumice and scoria look like rocky sponges. They do not look
like glass, but are still glassy because they have no visible crystals.
11. Porphyritic rocks started cooling slowly and ended cooling quickly. As a result they have a porphyritic
texture which is described as having both ___large and small crystals___.

12. Be able to look at a rock and tell its mineral content, origin, cooling rate, and texture.
Mineral content: Mafic (dark) or felsic (light)
Origin
Cooling
Rate
Texture

Intrusive
slow

Coarsegrained
(large)
se, fine, or glassy texture

Extrusive
Fast or
REALLY fast
Fine-grained
or glassy
(small or none)

Porphyritic
Slow then fast
BOTH large &
small crystals