ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Sedimentary Rock, Metamorphic Rock, Igneous Rock

• School: UTM
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV100Y5
• Professor: Barbara Murck

Document Summary

Geological cycles provide the physical foundation to support life on earth. Heating, melting, cooling, breaking, reassembling of rocks and minerals. Dominated by surface process (but driven both internally and externally) Processes related to the movement of tectonic plates. Determine location, size, and shape of ocean basins. Ultimately influence the distribution of vegetation and ecosystems. Magma = molten (liquid) rock + gases + crystals. Lava = magma that reaches the surface. Magma cools and crystallizes slowly, well below the earth"s surface (e. g. , granite) Magma is ejected from a volcano, cools, and solidifies quickily at the surface. Sediment =particles of rock, transported by wind, water, ice. Sedimentary rock = forms in the near-surface or surface environment. Lithification = formation of rock through the processes of compaction and cementation. Fossils = preserved remains of long-dead organisms. Metamorphic rock (meta = change, morphic = form) = pre-existing rock, modified as a result of exposure to great head and/or pressure.