Connect rock-cycle transformations

Supplied materials

• All measurements and observations below are supplied classroom examples. They are not data from actual learners or a claim about a particular real site.
• Paper or a browser document for a labeled drawing, table or explanation.
• Worked problem inputs: One buried rock stays solid but changes under heat and pressure; another melts then cools. Compare their pathways.
• Assessment case 1: A supplied rock melts, then the melt cools and crystallizes. What sequence is supported? Which inference or prediction is best supported?
• Assessment case 2: Which scientific label fits the specifically described step or feature? Supplied case: Magma becomes igneous rock.
• Assessment case 3: Which scientific label fits the specifically described step or feature? Supplied case: Rock becomes loose altered fragments.
• Assessment case 4: Which scientific label fits the specifically described step or feature? Supplied case: Solid rock changes without full melting.
• Assessment case 5: Which scientific label fits the specifically described step or feature? Supplied case: Molten material hardens.
• Assessment case 6: A buried rock changes minerals under heat and pressure but never melts. What is warranted? Which inference or prediction is best supported?

Learn the idea

Rocks transform through melting, cooling, weathering, burial, heat and pressure. There is no single required loop; many possible pathways occur on different timescales.

Melting means solid rock becomes molten material. Cooling means molten material solidifies. Weathering means rock breaks or alters near the surface. Metamorphism means solid rock changes under heat and pressure.

For the supplied mechanism problem, One buried rock stays solid but changes under heat and pressure; another melts then cools. Compare their pathways. The first undergoes metamorphism without complete melting. The second can form igneous rock on cooling. Calling both sedimentary ignores the distinct supplied processes.

1. Read the supplied problem and mark the structures, processes or quantities named: One buried rock stays solid but changes under heat and pressure; another melts then cools. Compare their pathways.
2. Draw the relevant boundary, pathway or comparison and label it using the scientific ideas above.
3. Write a causal explanation or calculation, showing how each observation supports the result.
4. Compare your reasoning with the worked solution; name a condition that would change or limit the inference.

Check your reasoning

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Take it further

New pathway: supplied igneous rock breaks into sediment, is deposited and cemented, then changes under heat and pressure without melting. Expected ordered labels: weathering/transport/deposition, sedimentary formation, metamorphism; no mandatory single rock-cycle loop.

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