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Earth Science Vocabulary

Part I: Rocks and Minerals

Across

4. The physical, chemical, and biological processes by which rock at or near the Earth's surface is broken down into smaller pieces.

6. No identifiable layers of minerals in a rock sample.

10. Igneous. Antonym of intrusive. Synonym of volcanic

11. The way in which a rock or mineral breaks in random patterns

13. a naturally occurring inorganic solid that has a well-defined chemical composition and in which atoms are arranged in an ordered fashion.

14. Any evidence of past life, including remains, traces, imprints as well as life history artifacts.

16. Any solid material that has settled out of a state of suspension in liquid.

17. Molten rock generated within the Earth.

20. The rock beneath the soil.

24. An individual grain or constituent of a rock.

25. Plutonic. Antonym of extrusive.

Down

1. The reduction of space between particles as the result of overlying sediments or of tectonic movements.

2. The process by which a binding, or gluing, agent fills spaces among individual particles of a deposit.

3. Any rock resulting from the consolidation of sediment.

5. Any of various minerals prized for beauty, durability, and rarity.

7. Any rock solidified from molten or partly molten material.

8. Any molten material that is extrusive or volcanic, or the rock that forms from a molten extrusive.

9. The color of a mineral in its powdered form obtained from scraping a sample on a ceramic plate.

10. Processes (mechanical and chemical) responsible for the wearing away, loosening, and dissolving of materials of the Earth's crust.

11. The presence of layers in some rocks caused by parallel alignment of minerals.

12. Pertaining to or composed of basalt.

13. Any rock derived from other rocks by chemical, mineralogical and structural changes resulting from pressure, temperature or shearing stress.

15. Any accumulation of material, by settling from water or air, chemical precipitation, evaporation from solution, etc.

18. A geometrical form taken by a mineral with an orderly internal atomic arrangement.

19. Pertaining to or composed of granite.

21. An aggregate of one or more minerals in varying proportions.

22. The reflection of light on a given mineral's surface, classified by intensity and quality.

23. The resistance of a mineral to scratching, as measured by the Mohs scale.

26. Unconsolidated materials above bedrock.