Unit 3

Rocks& the Rock Cycle

Structure of Earth:
It is 6000 km deep, it is spherical and not flat, and it has 3 main hollow layers
or shells separated by air.

Crust: Made of different rocks (silica,

oxygen, aluminium, magnesium)
and iron. These substances join in
It is solid but
different combinations to can flow very slowly
form minerals.
Made of iron and nickel

Types of rocks:

1) Igneous rocks:
 Non-porous can’t soak water with no gaps between the crystals.
 Come from magma (hot) from the mantle that has cooled into solid rock
(solidification). It can be extrusive or intrusive.

Extrusive igneous rock Intrusive igneous rock

Some of the magma comes out at the Some of the magma stays inside the
surface as lava. When the lava cools, Earth’s crust. It cools down more
it solidifies slowly than the lava and solidifies.
Eg: basalt (black) Eg: granite
Crystals are so close and rock has
different colours because of the
different crystals.

They cool quickly, and the crystals in The Earth cools slowly. This causes
the rock are too small to see with the the crystals to form slowly. The
naked eye magnifying lens crystals are large enough for us to
see with the naked eye

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Note that: when the rocks above the intrusive igneous rock wear away, the
granite appears on the surface.

2) Sedimentary rocks
Made from small pieces of other rocks stuck together called sediments.

How sedimentary rocks are formed:

Weathering: (High and low temperatures, rain, Plants break up the surface of
rocks with their roots) Rocks are continuously being broken up.
Erosion and transportation: they become eroded by rivers, ice, or wind on the
sides and bottom of the river as sediment then the sediments are carried or
transported by rivers.

Sedimentation (deposition): When the water in a river reaches the sea or a

lake, it flows slowly. It drops or deposits the sediments.

Compaction and cementation: Over millions of years, the layers at the bottom
get more and more squashed (compaction). These sediments are stuck
together by minerals in the water to form sedimentary rock (cementation).

Types of sedimentary rocks:

Sandstone: medium-sized grain, hard, building materials.
Claystone: tiny grains easy to mould, harden by fire.
Limestone: made from remaining living things like shells in the seabed. Useful
in building materials.

How to know sedimentary rocks:

 Pourous (soaks water) and makes bubbles because it consists of grains
that have spaces in between

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  It can be easily scratched.
 They sometimes contain fossils.
 Always form in layers, like the layers in the canyon.

Fossils
Fossils are the preserved remains of animals and plants which we find in
sedimentary rocks.
 When animals that live in or near the sea die, their bodies are washed
into the sea.
 The soft parts of the animals rot away.
 Over a long period of time, minerals in the water replace the bones of
the animal. Eventually, the minerals harden into rock.

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Sometimes it copies the original animal as a fossil

Limestone
Sometimes only the imprint of the animal in the Sediments is left behind. This
kind of fossil is called a mould

Sandstone (footprint)

Or, the moulds filled with minerals which hardened to form the shape of the
original animal. This makes a cast of the animal.

Limestone

Note that:
 Rock strata of the same age always contain fossils of the same organism
even in different places
 From fossils in strata we can work out the order of events.

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 1) metamorphic rocks:
The existing rocks may be changed to form new crystals (non-porous, stripy,
need a lens to see the crystals) this happens by:
 Pressure: it squeezes the rocks and the new rock has lots of thin layers.
 Heat and pressure: the new rock has different minerals and layers.

Layers of sedimentary rocks buried beneath the Earth’s surface. Magma rises
up from the mantle and forms an intrusive igneous rock mass. A huge mass of
extremely hot liquid rock pushes solid rocks aside. This causes all the
surrounding rocks to be affected by the heat and pressure. These rocks are
changed into metamorphic rocks.
Types of metamorphic rocks:
Quartz Marble Slate Gneiss
Heated Heated limestone pressured shale Pressured
sandstone (mudstone) granite
Look to Extremely hard and very Hard and long- Very hard
sandstone but shiny. It can be white, red, lasting. Look like granite
shiny and blue or green depending but striped
harder on the original limestone. crystals
Used to make Used to Decorate Used in roof Used for roads
sculpture buildings, craves statues tiles and floor
tiles

The rock cycle:

It shows us how the rocks of the Earth are used over and over again.

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Soil
The broken-up rocks by weathering help to make soil. A layer of soil covers
most of the rocks on the Earth’s surface.
 Types of soil
Different types of rock make different soil. For example,

 Sandstone and quartzite weather into sandy soil.

 Shale weathers into clay soil.
 Igneous and metamorphic rocks weather into a sandy, clay soil.

Soil is home to lots of living things, earthworms, insects and others these help
decay processes and change the soil structure.

Soil contains minerals like iron that make the soil red colour
It contains humus (dead organic matter) that makes a black or dark brown soil
colour.

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 Sandy soil Clay soil Loam soil
Large particles Small particles are packed Mixture of sand and clay, so
together tightly. they are made of particles of
different sizes not very tightly
or very loosely packed
together.
Texture rough The texture is smooth and
crumbly or gritty sticky. The spaces between
the soil particles are very
small.
Contains lots of There is not much air in clay There is enough air in the
air and water soils. It dries out and cracks in spaces between the soil
dry weather
The water can The water does not The organic matter in loam
drain easily. drain through so clay soils can soils helps the soil hold water
become waterlogged (held) and gives the soil lots of
nutrients

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Note that
Loam have the best composition for growing plants. Soil needs air, water and
nutrients.
Compost is made from dead organic matter. It is good for the soil (provides
nutrients and improves the texture of the soil).

Artificial fertilisers provide the same nutrients as organic matter. However,

they do not improve the texture of the soil like compost does.

Pesticides: kill weeds and insects. The chemicals in pesticides can also kill the
organic matter in the soil.

Note that:
 Farmers plant the same crop in the year, the soil dries out easily and is
no longer good for growing plants.
 Farmers need to turn the soil over often to mix Air and organic matter
through the soil.

Factors enhancing decomposition:

1. Temperature: Warmth enhances plant growth, decomposition of organic

matter and humus accumulation.

2. Soil moisture (wet): are most favourable for processes.

3. Nutrients: Lack of nutrients slows decomposition.

4. Soil pH: Most of the microbes grow best in a neutral medium (not acidic
or base)