Instructions
As our class geologist, it is your job to unravel the mysteries of the past. The answers to the mysteries of our Earth can be found in the rocks that have continued to cycle through time. Below are ten questions which you need to answer. Use the Internet links in the resources section to give you clues to uncovering the answers. As a knowledgeable geologist, your final challenge is to solve the BIG QUESTION that will bring your ideas together to make all the pieces of the puzzle fit.

Questions

1. What are the three types of rock and explain the differences? Make sure to explain how each type of rock forms.

2. What causes such a variety in the igneous rocks?

3. Changes in the physical shape of the rock may occur over time but chemically it is the same. What can cause this?

4. Explain how sand becomes rock in Zion National Park in Utah?

5. Draw the rock cycle and label all parts.

6. What role does friction play in forming rock? Are there any other forms of energy used anywhere in the rock cycle?

7. Pumice is a what kind of rock in the rock cycle?

8. What do Sandstone, Breccia and Shale rocks have in common?

9. When minerals are exposed to a temperature increase what happens?

10. Why is sediment rock found tilted, folded, fractured and twisted?

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Resources

The Rock Cycle
Rock Hounds
Earth Floor
Mineralogy 4 Kids
Earth's Materials
Earth Science
The Rock Cycle Experiments

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The BIG Question

Your final task is to write a creative story about a rock changing through the rock cycle. It began as an igneous rock from a volcano in Hawaii. In your story, describe the physical and chemical changes that occur as it moves through the rock cycle to become an igneous rock again.