Download Sedimentary rocks

The Rock Story Instructions & Examples
In this activity, you will use creative storytelling techniques to show your understanding of the rock cycle. You should choose a type
of rock and determine what might happen to it as it undergoes geologic changes. Then, think of a way to explain this in story form.
You might give your rock a name and describe his/her adventures. You might write it as a mystery. There are many frameworks you
might choose to use. Be creative and be sure you include the scientific information necessary to explain what happens to your rock.
Your story will be graded on the following components:
• Proper and liberal use of terminology (magma vs lava; intrusive/extrusive etc.)
• Accurate and thorough description of the processes and conditions that cause you to change
• Good physical description of what you would look like at each stage of your rock cycle, and the proper name that would be
given at each phase.
• Creativity
Suggestions for the rock cycle aspect of your story.
This outline is an example of the changes your rock might undergo. You can adjust it if you like,
or you are welcome to use this format. Of course your story might start at any point of the rock
cycle but should include all the possible phases of the rock cycle. This is the type of information
that you should be sure to include!
I. Igneous Rocks
A. You start as magma. Do you stay deep within to cool, or do you come to the surface.
B. Cooling Rate
i. Fast or Slow
ii. Large or small crystals, or no crystals at all
C. What is your overall appearance. What would you be called at this phase of your life.
II. Sedimentary Rocks
A. You are being broken into smaller pieces and carried away
i. What are these processes called?
ii. What is causing the breakdown? (winds, glaciers, rivers, waves?)
iii. What is carrying you away?
iv. Where are you going
v. Where did you end up
B. You are surrounded by other rock fragments
i. Are all of the same size, shape and composition?
ii. What happens next, are you reworked or buried immediately?
C. You become a sedimentary rock
i. What changed you into a sedimentary rock
ii. Describe your overall appearance and give your self a name
iii. Explain how you have changed since your days as an ignous rock
III. Metamorphic Rocks
A. What occurs for you to change into metamorphic rock?
i. What factors are involved?
ii. Where will this change occur?
iii. How do you get there?
B. What do you look like now?
i. Foliated or non-foliated
ii. Crystalline or non-crystalline?
iii. What would your friends call you?
iv. How are you different from sedimentary and igneous rocks
IV. Explain what might happen next.
Jimmy’s Rocky Road Trip (Example 1)
Once upon a time there was boy name Jimmy the rock. He was the son of
Mr. and Mrs. Iggy. Jimmy and his parents lived in a town called Melting
Magma which had extreme temperature problems. The town was also right
down the road from the town called Licorice Lava.
One of Jimmy’s favorite hobbies was taking road trips therefore on the
day of October 2, Jimmy decided to take a road trip. Jimmy started driving
down the road, passing through the town of Licorice Lava, where his friends
the Exxo family lived.
After about one hundred miles, Jimmy made a pit stop in the town of
Weathery to gas up. The weather was very bad in that area. The wind
was blowing. Rain was falling. The roads where flooded. Because there
was such horrific weather in the town of Weathery, Jimmy had to take a
detour through the town of Watery Wake. The weather was even worst in
that town, therefore, Jimmy had to stay there for about a week until the
roads where cleared to drive on. Once the roads where cleared, Jimmy
decided to go to the town of Earthy to visit his grandmother Meta, since he
was only about 20 miles away. After visiting his grandmother for 2 days,
Jimmy left to return back home to the hot town of Melting Magma.
Example #2
Hi. My name is Jimmy the Rock. I started out as magma way inside a very
active volcano until one day the volcano erupted, and there I went. I flew
out. I went from being magma to lava very fast! Before I knew what was
happening, I started to cool off and soon turned into an igneous rock. Well,
I was okay
with that. I thought I looked pretty cool. After a while, I started
to notice that I was shrinking. I thought it was my imagination,
but I was definitely eroding and breaking down into sediments.
The next thing I knew I was splashing around in some water,
until finally I got stuck. A whole bunch of other sediments came
rushing at me, and I was being buried! I started getting sticky and really
hard. When it was all over, I noticed that I had changed into a sedimentary
rock! Well, fine. This was a
cool new look. I wasn't going to complain, but before I knew it, I started
shaking and bumping around. I think you people would call that an
earthquake. I started getting superhot and I thought I was going to melt!
My body was killing me from all the
extreme pressure of being squeezed! I think I fell asleep for a while,
because when I finally thought to check if I
was still in one piece, I discovered that I had changed once
again. I thought I looked better than ever. I couldn't believe it,
but I had turned into a metamorphic rock! I don't quite know what to
expect next, but I hope I stay this way for a long time! Man, I rock!
ROCKS
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/inside-the-earth/rocks-article/
Rocks are so common that most of us take them for granted—cursing when we hit them with
the garden hoe or taking advantage of them to drive in tent pegs on summer camping trips.
But what exactly is a rock?
To geologists, a rock is a natural substance composed of solid crystals of different minerals that
have been fused together into a solid lump. The minerals may or may not have been formed at
the same time. What matters is that natural processes glued them all together.
There are three basic types of rock: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.
Extremely common in the Earth's crust, igneous rocks are volcanic and form from molten
material. They include not only lava spewed from volcanoes, but also rocks like granite, which
are formed by magma that solidifies far underground.
Typically, granite makes up large parts of all the continents. The seafloor is formed of a dark
lava called basalt, the most common volcanic rock. Basalt is also found in volcanic lava flows,
such as those in Hawaii, Iceland, and large parts of the U.S. Northwest.
Granite rocks can be very old. Some granite, in Australia, is believed to be more than four
billion years old, although when rocks get that old, they've been altered enough by geological
forces that it's hard to classify them.
Sedimentary rocks are formed from eroded fragments of other rocks or even from the remains
of plants or animals. The fragments accumulate in low-lying areas—lakes, oceans, and
deserts—and then are compressed back into rock by the weight of overlying materials.
Sandstone is formed from sand, mudstone from mud, and limestone from seashells, diatoms, or
bonelike minerals precipitating out of calcium-rich water.
Fossils are most frequently found in sedimentary rock, which comes in layers, called strata.
Metamorphic rocks are sedimentary or igneous rocks that have been transformed by pressure,
heat, or the intrusion of fluids. The heat may come from nearby magma or hot water intruding
via hot springs. It can also come from subduction, when tectonic forces draw rocks deep
beneath the Earth's surface.
Marble is metamorphosed limestone, quartzite is metamorphosed sandstone, and gneiss, another
common metamorphic rock, sometimes begins as granite.