Rocks &

the Rock
Cycle
 In geology, rock or stone is a naturally
occurring solid aggregate of one or more
minerals or mineraloids . A rock is an aggregate
of minerals. It may be up of one mineral
 • Rocks are
classified by how
they form
• Igneous
• Sedimentary
• Metamorphic

• Rocks can change from

one type to another Schist
over time
• Rocks are classified
by:

• How they form

• Texture
• Grain size
• Mineral composition

Conglomerate Sedimentary Rock

• Igneous rock:
forms when molten
rock (magma) cools
and hardens

• Classified by:
• Where they form
• Crystal (grain) size
Basalt
• Intrusive igneous:
cooling takes place
slowly beneath
Earth’s surface

granite
• Extrusive igneous:
cooling takes place
rapidly on Earth’s
surface

Pumice
• Sedimentary rock:
forms from the
compaction and/or
cementation of
sediments

• This process is called Limestone

lithification

• Sediments are:
• Rock pieces
• Mineral grains
• Shell fragments
• Sediments form weathering
through the
processes of
weathering and
erosion of rocks
exposed at Earth’s
surface erosion
• Sedimentary rock can
also form from the
chemical depositing
of materials that
were once dissolved in
water

• When water
evaporates, minerals gypsum
are left behind and
form rock
• Metamorphic rock:
forms when any
rock type is
changed into a
different kind of
rock

• Changes due to
great heat and/or Gneiss
pressure
• Rocks are heated,
squeezed, folded,
or chemically
changed by contact
with hot fluids

marble
• The rock cycle is an
ongoing series of
processes inside Earth
and on the surface

• Slowly changes rocks

from one kind to
another

• Any type of rock can

change into another
type
• Plate movement drives the rock cycle

• Subduction (1 plate pushed under another

plate)
• Re-melts rock into magma

• Mountain building
• Folding, faulting, uplift
• Exposes rock at the surface to be weathered and
eroded
 Moh's Approximate Hardness of
Hardness Scale Common Objects

Talc 1

Gypsum 2 Fingernail (2.5)

Calcite 3 Copper penny (3.5)

Fluorite 4 Iron nail (4.5)

Apatite 5 Glass (5.5)

Feldspar 6 Steel file (6.5)

Quartz 7 Streak plate (7.0)

Topaz
Topaz 8
Gypsum

Corundum 9

Diamond 10