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Understanding Earth
Chapter 4
25
Geology
Not Applicable
09/26/2005

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Term
Rock
Definition
A naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals
Term
Mineralogy
Definition
The relative proportions of a rock's constituent materials
Term
Texture
Definition
The sizes and shapes of its mineral crystals and the way they are put together
Term
Igneous Rocks
Definition
All rocks that form by the solidification of molten rock
Term
Sedimentary Rocks
Definition
All rocks formed as the burial products of layers of sediments (such as sand, mud), whether they were laid down on the land or under the sea
Term
Metamorphic Rocks
Definition
All rocks formed by the transformation of preexisting solid rocks under the influence of high pressure and temperature
Term
Rock Cycle
Definition
The set of geologic procceses that convert each type of rock into the other two types
Term
Intrusive igneous rocks
Definition
Crystallize when magma intrudes into unmelted rock masses deep in Earth's crust. Can be recognized by their interlocking large crystals which grew slowly as the magma cooled. Ex. Granite
Term
Extrusive igneous rocks
Definition
Igneous rocks that form from rapidly cooled magmas that erupt at the surface through volacnoes. Generally glassy or fine-grained.
Term
Sediments
Definition
The precursors of sedimentary rocks, found on Earth's surface as layers of loose particles such as sand, silt, and the shell of organisms.
Term
Weathering
Definition
All of the chemical and physical processes that break up and decay rocks into fragments of various sizes
Term
Erosion
Definition
the set of processes that loosen soil and rock and move them to the spot where they are deposited as layers of sediment
Term
Clastic Sediments
Definition
Sediments that are physically deposited particles, such as grains of quartz and feldspar derived from a weathered granite
Term
Chemical and Biochemical Sediments
Definition
Sediments that are new chemical substances that form by precipitation when some of a rock's components dissolve during weathering and are carrived in river waters to the sea
Term
Lithification
Definition
The process that converts sediments into solid rock, occuring in compaction (squeezing together of grains) and cementation (minerals preciptitate around deposited particles and bind them together)
Term
Bedding
Definition
The formation of parallel layers of sediment as particles settle to the bottom of the sea, a river, or a land surface
Term
Regional Metamorphism
Definition
Metamorphism that occurs where high pressures and temperatures extend over large regions, as happens where plates collide
Term
Contact Metamorphism
Definition
metamorphism that occurs where high temperatures are restricted to smaller areas, such as the rocks near and in contact with an intrustion
Term
Foliation
Definition
way or flat planes produced when the rock was structurally deformed into folds
found in many regionally metamorphosed rocks
Term
Outcrops
Definition
places where bedrock is laid bare
Term
Bedrock
Definition
the underlying rock beneath the loose surface materials
Term
Plutonic Rocks
Definition
all igneous intrusives, from Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld
Term
Volcanic Rocks
Definition
all extrusive igneous rocks
Term
Orogeny
Definition
begins with plate collision and ends in mountain building. the igneous rocks that form at the boundaries where plates collide, together with associated sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, are then uplifted into a high mountain chain as a section of Earth's crust crumples and deforms
Term
Subsidence
Definition
a depression of sinking of the Earth's crust that accompanies burial of the sediments laid down in the sea, or on land
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