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Rock Identification Grades 3 12 Made Easy Read

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Rock Identification Grades 3 12 Made Easy Read

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Uploaded by

cwiphk
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Rock Identification

Made Easy

By Patrick Nurre
Rock Identification Made Easy
By Patrick Nurre

Rock Identification Made Easy


Published by Northwest Treasures
Bothell, Washington
425-488-6848
NorthwestRockAndFossil.com
northwestexpedition@msn.com
Copyright 2014 by Patrick Nurre.
All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be


reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®.


Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Rock Identification Made Easy
Table of Contents

Introduction 4
Teacher Notes 5
Lesson 1 Let’s Begin…at the Beginning 12
Lesson 2 The Plutonic Rocks and How to Identify Them 21
Lesson 3 The Volcanic Lava Rocks and How to Identify Them 28
Lesson 4 The Pyroclastic Volcanic Rocks and How to Identify Them 40
Lesson 5 The Metamorphic Rocks and How to Identify Them 47
Lesson 6 The Sedimentary Rocks and How to Identify Them 54
Appendix A Where to Find Rocks 66
Appendix B A Biblical View of Geology 68
Picture Credits 75
Lesson 2 – The Plutonic Rocks and
How to Identify Them
Plutonic rocks were named after the mythical god of the underworld, Pluto.
They were given that name because these rocks form the foundation of the
earth. The continental crust of the earth is made of the plutonic rocks,
primarily granite. Although no one has seen granite forming, we know that God
created the earth as a functional planet right at the beginning with water and
a foundation. Geologists know that the continents are anchored in granite.

So, what do plutonic rocks look like?


Plutonic rocks are coarse-grained rocks. That means that you can see the
individual minerals that make up the rock. You may not know what those
minerals are, but you can see them. Further, plutonic rocks are divided into
light colored plutonic rocks and dark colored plutonic rocks.

1. The light colored plutonic rocks or felsic rocks consist of the granites:

Examples of Granite from Brazil, Utah and Washington


Activity: Take out the samples of granite in your kit and look
closely at them. Describe what you see. Can you identify the
light colored rock-forming minerals that make up granite?

If you said quartz, mica, and feldspar, you would be correct.

2. Another light colored plutonic rock that looks a lot like granite is a rock
called pegmatite. The word pegmatite means ‘something fastened together.’
The distinguishing characteristic of pegmatites is that the mineral crystals
are much larger than in common granite. Everything is bigger in a pegmatite.

Pegmatites from Brazil and Colorado


Activity: Take out the sample of pegmatite in your kit and look
closely at it. Describe what you see. Now, look at your own
collection of rocks from your yard or garage and see if you
have any pegmatites.

3. Now let’s look at some of the dark colored plutonic rocks or mafic rocks.
These rocks are the gabbros:

Examples of Gabbro from Montana, Wyoming, Washington and California


Activity: Take out the samples of gabbro in your kit and look
closely at them. Describe what you see. Can you identify the
dark colored rock-forming minerals that make up gabbro?

If you said calcium feldspar, biotite mica, pyroxene, amphibole and iron, you
would be correct.

Now, compare the granite with the gabbro. What do you notice
that is different between them?

Gabbro is a name of a city in Italy where gabbro was first studied and typified.

Activity: If you have rocks in your garage or back yard, go get


them and see if you can find any coarse-grained rocks; organize
them into coarse-grained light colored rocks and coarse-grained
dark colored rocks. How did you do?

Granite and gabbro are easy to identify. But there is another kind of plutonic
rock that is not so easy to identify. These rocks are called intermediate rocks
because they are in the middle. Let’s look at some of the intermediate
plutonic rocks:

Granodiorite from Butte, Montana and the Cascades of Washington

 Granodiorite, as the name implies, is an in-between rock. Grano- means


that it is light colored. Diorite means that it tends toward being darker.
Some people see these rocks as lighter, while other see them as darker.
Why is this? Granodiorite is made up of an even mix of the light and
dark colored rock-forming minerals. Geologists call these kinds of
rocks ‘salt and pepper’ rocks. The main thing that makes the difference
between this intermediate rock and the next one we will look at is that
granodiorite contains some quartz.

Activity: Take out the samples of granodiorite from your kit


and look at them closely. Can you spot the quartz in them?
You may need your handy magnifier from your kit to complete
this activity.

 Diorite is another intermediate rock also called a ‘salt and pepper’ rock.
Diorite differs from granodiorite in that it contains no quartz, just an
even mix of light and dark colored rock-forming minerals.

Diorite from California

Activity: Take out the sample of diorite from your kit and look
at it closely. Can you tell the difference between it and the
granodiorite? You may need your handy magnifier from your
kit to complete this activity. Look for the quartz in the
granodiorite. Don’t get frustrated if you cannot quickly identify
diorite and granodiorite. It takes practice. I can tell you that
the intermediate plutonic rocks are the most difficult to
identify.
Activity: If you have rocks in your garage or back yard, go get
them and see if you can find any coarse grained intermediate
colored plutonic rocks. How did you do?

Simple Rock Classification Chart


Plutonic Rocks: Coarse-Grained Rocks
Rock Name Light Colored Intermediate Dark Colored
Composition Composition Composition
Granite Quartz, K-
feldspar,
amphibole,
biotite
Granodiorite Quartz,
amphibole, Na-
feldspar, biotite
Diorite Same, but no
quartz
Gabbro Ca-feldspar,
pyroxene,
biotite,
amphibole,
olivine, iron
Pegmatite Quartz, K-
feldspar,
(Large amphibole,
Crystals) biotite
Rounded or tumbled
coarse-grained plutonic
rocks from Whidbey
Island, Washington;
remember, you can see
the mineral crystals in a
plutonic rock. That is
why geologists call them
coarse-grained rocks.
You can find these in
gravel pits, by rivers
and on beaches.

Quiz – the plutonic rocks:


1. Plutonic rocks are also called _____________ - _____________
rocks.
2. ___________ colored rocks are formed from the dark colored
_________________
3. The light colored __________ are formed from the __________
colored _________________
4. In coarse-grained rocks, the minerals _______ be ____________

All the answers to these questions can be found in the text.


When you feel you have been able to consistently identify the
plutonic rocks, you can move on to the next lesson – Volcanic
Rocks.

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