The Rock Cycle Quiz

Grade 7 · Science · Quiz

10-question quiz on rock types, formation processes, and the rock cycle.

Questions

1. Which type of rock is formed when magma cools slowly underground?

   1. Extrusive igneous
   2. Sedimentary
   3. Metamorphic
   4. Intrusive igneous
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   Answer: Intrusive igneous

   Intrusive igneous rocks (like granite) form from magma that cools slowly underground, giving time for large mineral crystals to grow.

2. Sedimentary rocks form from compacted and cemented sediment layers.

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   Answer: True

   Sediments are buried over time, and the weight of overlying material compacts them while minerals cement the grains together into sedimentary rock.

3. When shale is subjected to heat and pressure it can become the metamorphic rock called ___.

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   Answer: slate

   Shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that transforms into slate when heat and pressure cause its clay minerals to recrystallize.

4. What is the name for molten rock that has reached Earth's surface?

   1. Magma
   2. Lava
   3. Granite
   4. Pumice
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   Answer: Lava

   Lava is the term for magma once it erupts onto Earth's surface. Below the surface it's called magma; above the surface it's called lava.

5. Weathering and erosion are the same process.

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   Answer: False

   Weathering is the breakdown of rock into smaller pieces. Erosion is the movement and transport of those pieces to a new location. They work together but are different processes.

6. Which of the following is an example of a sedimentary rock?

   1. Granite
   2. Marble
   3. Sandstone
   4. Basalt
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   Answer: Sandstone

   Sandstone is formed from compressed and cemented sand grains — a classic sedimentary rock. Granite and basalt are igneous; marble is metamorphic.

7. The transport of weathered material by water, wind, or ice is called ___.

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   Answer: erosion

   Erosion moves weathered particles via agents like rivers, glaciers, waves, and wind, eventually depositing them elsewhere as sediment.

8. What type of rock is most likely to contain fossils?

   1. Igneous
   2. Metamorphic
   3. Sedimentary
   4. Volcanic
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   Answer: Sedimentary

   Sedimentary rocks form from layers of sediment in which organisms can be buried and preserved as fossils. Metamorphic and igneous processes destroy fossil structures.

9. Granite is an intrusive igneous rock with large crystals.

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   Answer: True

   Granite is an intrusive igneous rock. Because it cools slowly deep underground, its minerals have time to grow into the large, visible crystals you can see in a granite countertop.

10. What two agents change existing rock into metamorphic rock?

    1. Wind and rain
    2. Heat and pressure
    3. Sediment and water
    4. Ice and gravity
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    Answer: Heat and pressure

    Heat and pressure deep in Earth recrystallize minerals in existing rocks without melting them, forming denser, harder metamorphic rocks.

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