Shaping the Earth Vocabulary

To cause to form crystals, to take a definite form.

• Rock cycle

• Luster

• Hardness

• Crystallize

A scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes that shape it.

• Paleontologist

• Botanist

• Geologist

• Meteorologist

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS3-1

A large body of ice moving slowly down a slope or valley or spreading outward on a land surface.

• Iceberg

• Glacier

• Icecap

• Snow slide

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

A common type of igneous rock that is granular in texture.

• Granite

• Obsidian

• Basalt

• Pumice

Rocks formed by the cooling and solidifying of molten materials.

• Igneous Rock

• Sedimentary Rock

• Metamorphic Rock

• Rock cycle

Rock that was once one form of rock but has changed to another under the influence of heat, pressure, or some other agent without passing through a liquid phase.

• Sedimentary Rock

• Metamorphic Rock

• Rock cycle

• Igneous Rock

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

Rocks formed by sediment that is deposited over time, usually as layers at the bottom of lakes and oceans. This sediment can include minerals, small pieces of plants, and other organic matter.

• Rock cycle

• Metamorphic Rock

• Igneous Rock

• Sedimentary Rock

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-1

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

A continuous process by which rocks are created, changed from one form to another, destroyed, and then formed again.

• Weathering

• Sedimentary Rock

• Rock cycle

• Metamorphic Rock

The various mechanical and chemical processes that cause exposed rock to decompose.

• Crystallize

• Weathering

• Luster

• Decomposition

The principle is that an object made of a harder material will scratch an object made of a softer material.

• Crystallize

• Decomposing

• Weathering

• Hardness