Three Types Of Rock Essay

Decent Essays
The three types of rocks that comprise the rock cycle are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock. Rocks are grouped into one of these three categories based upon how they are formed (Thompson & Turk, 2007). Igneous rock is formed from magma and depending if it solidifies quickly or slowly on the Earth’s surface or in the Earth’s crust will determine the texture and if it crystallizes. For instance, magma that cools rapidly does not have time to form crystals and it creates a type of volcanic glass called obsidian. Magma that solidifies in Earth’s crust will cool slowly, form crystals over a long period of time, and form a rock such as granite. Igneous rocks that are formed on Earth’s surface are called extrusive rocks and igneous rocks …show more content…
Extrusive igneous rocks are fine grain and intrusive igneous rocks are coarse grain. Igneous rocks are categorized into felsic, intermediate, mafic, and ultramafic depending on the volume of the minerals and the mineral content in the rock. For instance, granite is considered a coarse grain felsic rock and basalt is considered a fine grain mafic rock. Sedimentary rock is formed by a process called lithification and it is made up of weathered rocks and dead marine organisms such as clay, sand, gravel, shells, and corals. Sedimentary rocks are categorized into four different groups such as clastic, organic, chemical, and bioclastic. Clastic sedimentary rock is composed of gravel, sand, silt, or clay and is formed by the accumulation of sediment. Once the sediment has accumulated it becomes compacted and the lithification process cements the sediment together creating a clastic sedimentary rock. Clastic rocks such as sandstone, siltstone, and shale make up more than 85% of all sedimentary rocks (Thompson & Turk, 2007). Organic sedimentary rock is composed of the remains of plants and animals and is formed from the compaction of overlying

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Rock And Roll Analysis

    • 1883 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Was Rock and Roll Responsible for Dismantling Americas Traditional Family, Sexual, and Racial Customs in the 1950s and 1960s? Dating back to as early as 1922 is when rock n roll appeared in blues songs. It then began to tradition and take off into what we know “rock n roll” in the early 1950s. Rock n Roll was a fashion of rhythm and blues, black gospel, and country-western. Dating back to as early as 1922 is when rock n roll began in blues songs.…

    • 1883 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Solid Rock Poem Analysis

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “We’re running from the heart of darkness, searching for the heart of light”. How do these lyrics make you feel? Sad or sorry for the aboriginals, about how they were treated when the white settled? This song, Solid Rock, by Goanna, was published for a reason.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Deerfield Basin Essay

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Introduction On September 12, and October 3, 2016, we stopped at 6 locations north of Northampton in the Deerfield Basin of the Connecticut River Valley (Figure 1). The purpose of these stops is to examine rocks, interpret depositional environments for each rock formation, and discuss the geologic history of the Deerfield Basin based on observations and interpretations. Early Mesozoic lithospheric extension led to the development of a long sequence of rift basins. The Deerfield basin is the erosional remnant of one of these rifts exposed in North America after Pangaea separated during the Carnian (Olsen et al., 1992).…

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The minerals that we could identify in this rock were Quartz, Muscovite, and Potassium Feldspar. The intrusive body of the rock is Dike and one of the things we got to get for evidence was that this rock has schist and it’s weak and that it also cools slowly and by the time crystals get to be bigger and bigger. Then Upper and Lower Adair Formation comes with being younger. The younger of this two is the Lower Adair Formation with 30 million years old. Its color is red with sediments of Sandstones abd also with Sedimentary Breccia.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ercall Quarries

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The crystals are smaller than granite, which means that the magma cooled more quickly. A breccio conglomerate with clasts which are both rounded and angular, it is a mixture of breccia and conglomerate. Breccio conglomerate is coarse-grained sedimentary rock, it is present at locality 5. Breccio conglomerate varies in colour, because of the different types of clasts and sediment.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kotenai Formation

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Rocks within this formation range from gray to white when exposed, and the new rocks are in either light brown, yellow or green color, with pieces of plant materials (ostracod fossil). The grains are very fine, and they would form clay. These fine-grained rocks are highly erodable and are recessive towards weathering. Since the rocks in this formation are recessive, they usually found in the valleys. Lower Clastic consists of…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Rock Cycle Dbq

    • 207 Words
    • 1 Pages

    If the igneous rock erodes, it will become sediment. After that, the sediment…

    • 207 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    Trans Pecos Research Paper

    • 3033 Words
    • 13 Pages

    144-145, pg. 161-176. (Adams, 2012) Befus, K., Breyer, J., Busbey, A., Hanson, R., Miggins, D., 2009, Nonexplosive and explosive magma/wet-sediment interaction during emplacement of Eocene intrusions into Cretaceous to Eocene strata, Trans-Pecos igneous province, West Texas, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 181, pg. 155-172. (Befus, 2009) Urbancyzk, K., White, J., 2001, Origin of a silica-oversaturated quartz trachyte-rhyolite suite through combined crustal melting, magma mixing, and fractional crystallization: the Levya Canyon volcano, Trans-Pecos Magmatic Province, Texas Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 111, 155-182.…

    • 3033 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Brilliant Essays
  • Great Essays

    Badlands Research Paper

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Badlands formed from a complex geologic setting. The topography that we see today is formed from erosion of the soft and not well-consolidated rocks. The oldest rocks found at The Badlands National Park are the Upper Cretaceous mudstones of the Pierre Shale (Graham, 2008). Overlying the Pierre Shale is the Fox Hills Formation, and overlying the Fox Hills Formation is the Tertiary White River Group. The White River Group contains a paleosol that are bright red.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Besides the granite of which there is a plethora of, diorite and monzonite also formed as a result of the cooling of molten rock under the earth’s surface. These rock formations were the result of the natural geological process of subduction in which the Pacific Ocean plate is forced underneath the advancing North American Continental plate. Critically hot water from the subduction of the ocean floor, rose upwards about 75-100 kilometers and melted rocks in its path, creating the volcanic activity that gave rise to rock formations away from the subduction zone. The time at which all these process are dated to have taken place is during the Cretaceous…

    • 864 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    St Peter Area Case Study

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The deposition of ordovician dolomite could have been formed from flooding with high sea levels. The melting of glaciers could have carved out the sides of the rocks and areas where there are bluffs that cause the rocks to cliff at a higher elevation. The quaternary alluvium is most likely deposited from where there was erosion of sedimentary rocks from the movement of water or wind erosion. The large boulder found at the Kasota Prairie was most likely brought in from a glacier. It is an erratic boulder meaning the material the boulder is made out of, does not match its surroundings.…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Which forms combustible geologic deposits. Due to different amount of time and temperatures make up different kinds of fossil fuel. Professor Richard Alley mentions the differences that make fossil fuel, “woody plant make coal, slimy plants algae will give oil, and both give them rise to natural gas.” (Earth) Knowing what are fossil fuels and how nature created it brought out the idea of replacing it by finding other ways to produce…

    • 877 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    During the documentary I learned that near the Earth's surface many gemstones are formed when minerals react with water and later on are dissolved. The evaporation causes the minerals to form. Gemstones are produced when the water is mixed with sandstones. Amethyst is a purple crystalline quartz. The Agates is a cryptocrystalline which comes in…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jazz Vs Rock Music Essay

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Jazz is a music genre which originated from African American society in the United States in the late 18th and early 19th century. Jazz music emphasizes improvisation along with the use of different musical instruments. Rock is also a music genre which originated in the United States in mid twentieth century. Rock music refers to rocking and rolling, reference to dancing and sex. Also it uses different types of recording techniques and unique instruments.…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rock Art Essay

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Rock art can be viewed as part of everyone’s cultural heritage or as part of a specific groups’ cultural heritage. It is this difference of thought that can cause much debate on who should have access to and how to manage rock art sites. One way to ensure that the heritage is preserved regardless of what happens to the rock art itself is to record the stories that go along with the art. “Collecting and archiving [stories], with due respect for the traditional owners and in accordance with their wishes about what can or cannot be published, is as much a duty as preserving the art and its natural and archeological contexts” (Clottes, 2008:6). There is just some knowledge that is not meant to be learned or recorded.…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays