NAME______DATE______PERIOD______
ROCKS STUDY GUIDE
(Answer on a separate sheet of notebook paper!)
Use your notes and your textbook (Chapters 3 & 4) to help you answer these questions. Use this study guide to help you study for our rocks test. There are also some review questions for minerals that you can use to help you study for our Rocks & Minerals Post Test!
1. Complete the attached flashcards. The word is on the front and you will write the definition
on the back. Cut out the cards and use them to help you study!
2. Describe two ways rocks were used by humans and ancient civilizations.
3. Compare and contrast texture and composition.
4. The type of igneous rock that forms depends on the…..(two characteristics!)
5. What kind of texture does an igneous rock have when magma cools slowly?
6. What kind of texture does an igneous rock have when lava cools quickly?
7. Compare and contrast intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks.
8. Explain the difference between felsic and mafic rock.
9. Explain three ways in which magma can form.
10. Name two intrusive igneous bodies.
11. Describe how sediment becomes sedimentary rock.
12. Compare and contrast clastic, chemical and organic sedimentary rock. Give an example of
each.
13. Why do you think raindrop impressions are more likely to be preserved in fine-grain
sedimentary rocks rather than in coarse-grained sedimentary rock?
14. Compare and contrast foliated and non-foliated metamorphic rocks. Give an example of
each.
15. Which do you think would be easier to break, a foliated rock, such as slate, or a nonfoliated
rock, such as quartzite? Explain.
16. Explain why some minerals only occur in metamorphic rock.
17. If you were looking for fossils in the rocks around your home and the rock type that was
closest to your home was metamorphic, do you think that you would find many fossils?
Explain.
18. If a rock is buried deep inside the Earth, which geological processes cannot change the rock?
Explain your answer.
19. Use the following terms to construct a concept map: rocks, metamorphic, sedimentary,
igneous, foliated, nonfoliated, organic, clastic, chemical, intrusive, and extrusive.
20. List 4 examples of igneous rocks (think of our lab!)
21. List 4 examples of sedimentary rocks (think of our lab!)
22. List 4 examples of metamorphic rocks (think of our lab!)
23. Using the rock cycle illustration shown below to answer the next question. Explain what
happens to a rock as it goes through the rock cycle. You can start at any point in the
rock cycle! Be sure to answer this question in complete sentences!
24. Use the Mohs Hardness Scale to answer the following questions.
MOHS HARDNESS SCALEHARDNESS / MINERAL
1 / Talc
2 / Gypsum
3 / Calcite
4 / Fluorite
5 / Apatite
6 / Orthoclase
7 / Quartz
8 / Topaz
9 / Corundum
10 / Diamond
a. Which minerals are harder than Orthoclase?
b. Which minerals can calcite scratch?
c. Can quartz scratch fluorite? Explain your answer.
d. Which mineral is the softest mineral?
25. Define “mineral”.
ROCK / ROCK CYCLEEROSION / DEPOSITION
UPLIFT / WEATHERING
COMPOSITION / TEXTURE
INTRUSIVE IGNEOUS ROCK / EXTRUSIVE IGNEOUS ROCK
STRATA / SEDIMENT
STRATIFICATION / FOLIATED
NONFOLIATED / ROCKS TEST
FLASH CARDS!