Rock Cycle Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which pair of processes most directly turns loose sediment into sedimentary rock?
Compaction and cementation
Melting and cooling
Heating and recrystallization
Weathering and erosion
2. What happens during cementation?
Pressure flattens mineral grains into layers
Moving water carries sediment to a new location
Existing rock melts into liquid magma
Dissolved minerals crystallize and bind sediment grains together
3. Magma cools slowly several kilometers below Earth's surface. What is most likely to form?
A coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock
A fine-grained sedimentary rock
A foliated metamorphic rock
A layer of loose sediment
4. Granite usually has larger visible crystals than rapidly cooled volcanic glass. What best explains this difference?
Granite forms from compacted mineral grains
Granite cools more slowly, allowing crystals more time to grow
Volcanic glass experiences greater pressure during burial
Volcanic glass forms through stronger weathering
5. A basalt outcrop breaks into particles that are transported toward a lake. What must happen before those particles can become a new sedimentary rock?
They must be deposited, buried, compacted, and cemented
They must melt beneath the lake
They must cool slowly inside the crust
They must undergo metamorphism at the surface
6. Which process can convert any of the three major rock types into material that may later form igneous rock?
Deposition
Cementation
Melting
Compaction
7. Sandstone is deeply buried and subjected to intense heat and pressure without melting. Which outcome is most likely?
It becomes magma and then basalt
It becomes metamorphic rock such as quartzite
It separates into loose sand grains
It becomes sedimentary rock through deposition
8. Which statement best represents the overall rock cycle?
Only igneous rock can be weathered into sediment
Every rock must become sedimentary before becoming metamorphic
Rock can follow multiple pathways rather than one fixed sequence
Each rock type can transform into only one other type
9. Limestone lies next to a hot magma intrusion but does not melt. Which new rock is likely to form?
Sandstone through deposition
Basalt through rapid cooling
Marble through contact metamorphism
Conglomerate through compaction
10. Shale is buried and exposed to directed pressure and moderate heat. Which change is most likely?
Shale melts and immediately becomes granite
Shale transforms into a foliated metamorphic rock such as slate
Shale weathers directly into marble
Shale becomes loose sediment through cementation
11. What distinguishes metamorphism from the formation of igneous rock?
Metamorphism occurs only at Earth's surface
Metamorphism always involves deposited sediment
Metamorphism requires rock to become magma first
Metamorphism changes existing rock without fully melting it
12. Rock fragments settle at a river mouth and are gradually buried by additional layers. Which sequence would most directly produce sedimentary rock?
Melting followed by rapid cooling
Compaction followed by cementation
Heating followed by recrystallization
Uplift followed by erosion
13. A scientist is searching for preserved shells from an ancient shallow sea. Which rock type is generally the most promising place to look?
Intrusive igneous rock formed from deep magma
Metamorphic rock altered by extreme heat
Volcanic rock formed from a recent lava flow
Sedimentary rock formed from deposited layers
14. How does uplift contribute to the rock cycle?
It directly melts sedimentary rock into magma
It cements loose sediment into solid rock
It brings buried rock toward the surface, where weathering can occur
It makes lava cool more slowly underground
15. Rainwater breaks exposed rock into fragments, and a stream then carries the fragments away. Which processes occurred in that order?
Weathering, then erosion
Deposition, then cementation
Melting, then crystallization
Erosion, then weathering
16. An igneous rock is pushed deeper into a mountain belt, where temperature and pressure rise but the rock remains solid. What is the most likely result?
It becomes sediment through deposition
It becomes another igneous rock through crystallization
It remains unchanged because only sedimentary rocks can transform
It becomes metamorphic rock