Geology Flashcards
(23 cards)
What are sediments transported by?
Water, wind and ice
Where are sediments deposited?
Rivers, lakes and sea floors
What do sédiments go through before forming sedimentary rock?
Compaction and cementation
What are metamorphic rocks created by?
The application of extreme heat or pressure
What is contact metamorphism caused by?
Extreme heat
What is regional metamorphism caused by?
Extreme pressure
What produces intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks?
Magma from volcanoes
How are extrusive igneous rocks formed?
When magma cools very quickly once it reaches the earths surface and no crystals are formed in the rock
What is an example of extrusive igneous rock?
Basalt
How are intrusive igneous rocks formed?
When magma cools deeply and slowly into the Earths surface, forming many crystals
What is an example of intrusive igneous rock?
Granite
Why are diamonds extremely hard and rigid?
Because each carbon atoms is joined to four other atoms giving diamonds a rating of 10 on the Mohs Hardness Scale
How does graphite turn into a diamond?
When it is faced with extreme heat and pressure in the Earth’s crust
What are rocks made of?
Minerals
What are the five criteria for a mineral?
Solid, inorganic, naturally occurring, fixed chemical formula, atoms in an orderly structure
What are the seven principles of stratigraphy?
Uniformitarianism, original horizontality, superposition, faunal succession, inclusion and components, cross-cutting relationships and intrusive relationships
What does original horizontality state?
That sedimentary rocks are originally layered horizontally
What does superposition state?
That layers further down into the rock strata are older than rocks further up
What does inclusion and components state?
That inclusions of rock are older than the rock they are in
What does intrusive relationships state?
That intrusion is younger than sedimentary rock
What does cross-cutting relationships state?
That if a rock cuts another rock must be younger than the rock it is cutting
What is uniformitarianism state?
That the same natural laws and processes that apply now have always operated in the universe
What does faunal succession state?
That fossils occur in a definite, unchanging sequence in the geologic record
