From the fiery depths of the Earth to the surface where soil nourishes life, you’re about to explore how different types of rocks shape the land and sustain our environment.
Watch this animation to find out more about Earth's rocks. Then answer the questions in the Take Notes box below..
As you view the video, you might want to review some glossary terms: In addition to rock, mineral, inorganic matter, igneous rock, sediment, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock will be discussed. You may pause the animation, rewatch it as many times as you like, and read the transcript.
| Keyboard Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Pause/Play video playback |
| Enter | Pause/Play video playback |
| m | Mute/Unmute video volume |
| Up and Down arrows | Increase and decrease volume by 10% |
| Right and Left arrows | Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds |
| 0-9 | Fast seek to x% of the video. |
| f | Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key. |
| c | Press c to toggle captions on or off |
Our lithosphere- the solid rock portion of our planet- is a pretty complicated system. But if you boil it down to its most basic component, it all starts with minerals.
Every rock in our lithosphere is made up of minerals which are naturally occurring, inorganic (non-living) , solid material, made of elements that have certain physical properties.
When minerals are mixed and bonded together, they form rock, but how these minerals are combined to form rocks is what defines the three main types we have on Earth: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.
When melted and gooey magma cools and hardens it forms igneous rock. This can happen below ground, or above Either way, cooled magma and lava creates igneous rock.
When small bits of rock called sediment accumulate and are compressed over time, they form sedimentary rock.
And when any existing rock gets put into the pressure cooker that are the Earth’s plate boundaries, the rock is transformed- physically and chemically. This is metamorphic rock.
So, besides making great pets and houses, why are rocks important? Well, rocks, and what they are made of are literally and figuratively the building blocks of our world.
Type the answers to the following questions in the Notes Box, below.