| term | definition |
| rock | formed from one or more minerals |
| Igneous rocks | rocks formed from molton earth materials |
| Extrusive Igneous rocks | formed by molton rockon the earths surface; when magma comes out of a volcano then cools and hardens |
| Intrusive Igneous rocks | formed from molton rock cooling within the earth's crust |
| sedimentary rocks | formed by weathering and deposition |
| Clastic sedimentary rock | sedimentary rock made of rock fragments, minerals, and broken shells |
| Non-clastic sedimentary rock | sedimentary rocks that are formed from solutions or by organic processes |
| metamorphic rocks | formed by changes in pre-existing rocks cuased by extreme temps, pressure or both |
| wind | erosion agent that is likely in a flat plain with little rain |
| Appalachian Mountains | location where mass wasting is most likely to occur |
| cooling & hardening | processes that allow magma or lave to form into igneous rock |
| heat & pressure | processes that allow sedimentary rock to form into metamorphic rocks |
| weathering | process that allows rocks to break up |
| chemical weathering | breaking down rocks by changing their composition |
| erosion | moving of earth materials from one place to another |
| glacial deposition | when glaciers leave behind earth materials |
| glacial erosion | earth material moved downhill by an ice sheet |
| glaciers | large mass of ice sliding over the earth's surface |
| groundwater | water that has seeped into and beneath the soil |
| mass wasting | large amounts of rocks pulled downhill by gravity |
| physical weathering | breaking down rocks by only changing the size |
| rock cycle | the orderly processes which form and change rocks |
| soil | a mixture of weathered rock & decayed organic matter |
| deposition | the laying down, depositing, of sediment in one place |
| compaction | pressing together sediment |
| cementation | sediment that becomes glued together over time |