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Rock Cycle Vocabulary

How to do Explicit Vocabulary Notes:

Definition

Picture

Examples

Non-Examples

The Word

Rock Cycle

S A series of processes on the surface and inside the Earth that slowly changes rocks from one kind to another

S Example: sedimentary à heat & pressure à metamorphic à melting à magma à cooling à igneous à weathering à sediment à compaction & cementation à sedimentary

Rock Cycle

Sediment

S Small, solid pieces of material that comes from rocks (or sometimes organisms)

S Examples: sand, silt, gravel

S Non-examples: water, soil

Weathering

S The chemical and physical processes that break down rock on the Earth’s surface. Weathering is either mechanical (physical) or chemical.

S Examples: freezing & thawing, abrasion, plant growth, animal activity, water running, oxidation

S Non-examples: rock stays the same

Erosion

S The process by which natural forces move weathered rock and soil from one place to another.

S Examples: running water, mudslide, glaciers, waves, wind

S Non-examples: mining

Deposition

S The process by which sediment settles out of the wind or water carrying it.

S Examples: a glacier melts and rocks are dropped, ocean waves leave sand behind, wind creates sand dunes.

S Non-examples: weathering, erosion

Compaction

S The process that presses sediment together, one step in the formation of sedimentary rock.

S Examples: time + force; more sediment builds up on top and stuff on bottom is compacted

S Non-examples: erosion

Cementation

S The process in which dissolved minerals crystallize and glue particles of sediment together.

S Examples: sandstone, cobble, shale

S Non-examples: granite, obsidian, marble