Term | Definition |
Eruption | When lava or ash comes out of a volcano |
Volcano | A mountain that shoots out molten rock |
Cement | Building material made using limestone and other materials. Also means ‘stick together’. |
Concrete | A building material made by mixing sand, cement and gravel with water |
Crystal | A grain in a rock that interlocks with other grains |
Gabbro | A type of igneous rock with large crystals |
Geologist | A scientist who studies rocks of the Earth |
Grain | A distinct part of a rock, made of one or more minerals |
Granite | A type of igneous rock with large crystals |
Gravel | Small pieces of rock used in building |
Interlocking | When crystals fit together with no gaps between them |
Limestone | A sedimentary rock made from the shells of dead sea creatures (calcium carbonate) |
Permeable | Allows water to soak through |
Porous | Contains tiny holes |
Quartz | A mineral that forms grains in sandstone |
Rock | A naturally occurring substance made of one or more minerals |
Sandstone | A sedimentary rock made out of grains of quartz |
Sinkhole | A large hole in the ground caused by limestone dissolving |
Basalt | An igneous rock with very tiny crystals |
Crust | The solid rocks at the surface of the Earth |
Extrusive | Igneous rocks formed when lava freezes above the ground |
Gneiss | A metamorphic rock formed when schist is heated and squashed more usually with bands of different colours |
Igneous rock | Rock made from interlocking crystals that are not in layers formed when magma or lava cools and solidifies |
Intrusive | Igneous rock formed when magma freezes underground |
Lava | Molten rock that runs out of volcanoes |
Magma | Molten rock beneath the surface of the Earth |
Mantle | The part of the Earth below the crust |
Metamorphic rock | A rock formed from interlocking crystals that are often lined up in layers formed by heating and compressing existing rocks |
Schist | A metamorphic rock formed when slate or other rocks are heated and squashed more usually shiny with flat crystals in wavy layers |
Abrasion | When rock fragments bump into each other and wear away |
Biological weathering | When rocks are worn away or broken up due to the activities of living things |
Chemical weathering | When rocks are broken up or worn away by chemical reactions |
Erosion | The movement of loose and weathered rock |
Contract | Get smaller |
Expand | Get bigger |
Freeze-thaw | A type of physical weathering that happens when water freezes in a crack |
Glacier | Ice that fills a valley and moves slowly downhill |
Landslide | Sudden movement of rocks and/or soil downward |
Onion-skin weathering | A type of physical weathering that happens when a rock is heated and cooled in a cycle |
Physical weathering | When rocks are worn away or broken up by a physical process |
Sediment | Rock grains and fragments dropped by moving air or water |
Transport | See Erosion |
Weathering | When rocks are broken up by physical, chemical or biological processes |
Cementation | A process in which water is squeezed out of the spaces between pieces of rock, leaving mineral salts behind that stick or cement the rock pieces together |
Compaction | When layers of sediment or rock are squashed by the weight of sediment above them |
Deposit | When moving wind, water or ice drops rock fragments or grains |
Fossil | The remains of a dead animal or plant that became trapped in layers of sediment and turned into rock |
Marble | A metamorphic rock formed from limestone |
Mudstone | A sedimentary rock made of tiny particles |
Rock cycle | All the processes that form sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks linked together |
Sedimentary rock | A rock formed from grains stuck together |
Slate | A metamorphic rock with tiny crystals that are line up |
Mining | Obtaining metal ores or other substances from the Earth |
Native state | When a metal is found in the Earth as an element |
Ore | A rock that contains enough of a certain mineral or metal to make it worth mining |
Recycling | Using a material again, often by melting it and using it to make new objects |
Toxic | Poisonous |