Study Questions: Introduction to Rock and the Rock Cycle

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The quiz about rock and the rock cycle will involve questions like the ones that follow.

Note: Whenever you see reference to Tarbuck, in the following questions, that means the eText of the textbook by Tarbuck and others, Earth

1. In order to be considered a rock by a geologist, must a solid contain more than one type of mineral?
2. In order to be considered a rock by a geologist, must a solid contain more than one mineral grain?
3. In order to be considered a rock by a geologist, what must a solid be mostly or entirely composed of?
4. What is the most important way, related to the manner in which it formed, that an igneous rock is different from other rock types?
5. Does metamorphic rock form by cooling from an originally molten (melted, liquid) state?
6. What is the name geologists use to describe layering in a metamorphic rock that develops as a result of stress?
7. What is the name geologists use to describe layering in a sedimentary rock that represents ancient surfaces on which sediments were deposited or precipitated?
8. What is the general type of igneous rock that forms below Earth's surface?
9. What is the general type of igneous rock that forms at Earth's surface?
10. What do we call sediment that is composed of broken or eroded particles of some pre-existing rock, minerals, or biological debris?
11. What is a naturally occurring geological solid that is not of biologic origin and that is not a rock?
12. What is a naturally occurring geological solid that is composed of the altered remains of plant material and that is not a rock?
13. Sometimes gas bubbles are trapped within a cooling magma and are preserved in the resulting igneous rock. What are these holes in an igneous rock called?
14. What are the two primary types of carbonate sedimentary rock?
15. What is a sedimentary rock that is composed mostly or entirely of the mineral calcite?
16. What is a sedimentary rock that is composed mostly or entirely of the mineral dolomite?
17. List the four sizes of clastic sediments in order of decreasing grain size, listing the coarsest first. Hint, examine Figure 4.12.
18. What is the characteristic of a rock that involves the size, shape, distribution, and boundary relationships among mineral grains in the rock?
19. What kind of material is a siliciclastic sedimentary rock made of, that makes it different than a bioclastic rock?
20. What kind of material is a volcaniclastic sedimentary rock made of, that makes it different than a bioclastic rock?
21. What kind of material is a bioclastic sedimentary rock made of, that makes it different than a siliciclastic rock?
22. What are three general ways that a rock with a crystalline texture can develop?
23. What is an obvious difference between a clastic and crystalline texture?
24. What is the name that geologists use for the original rock that underwent change to become a metamorphic rock?
25. What is the minimum temperature at which metamorphism occurs?
26. For a rock of a given composition, what is the maximum temperature under which metamorphic change occurs?
27. What is the name geologists give to a kind of fracture frequently seen in glass or a fine-grained rock, where the broken face has curved parallel/concentric ribs that resemble the ribs on a mussel shell?
28. Why is a piece of fresh uniform obsidian not considered a rock?
29. Why is a piece of coal not considered a rock?

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