What are the 3 major classifications of rock?

Answer 1

Rocks are categorized into three distinct types based on their method of formation. The three types are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Early in Earth's history, all rock was igneous, having formed from the cooling of melt on the surface.

An igneous rock is simply a rock that has solidified from magma or lava upon cooling. Igneous rocks can be intrusive (solidified from magma underground) or extrusive (solidified from lava at or near the surface). The bulk of Earth's crust is formed from igneous rock. Examples of igneous rock include basalt, obsidian, rhyolite, granite, diorite, gabbro, and pumice.

A sedimentary rock is one that is formed by the accumulation of small to large sediment particles derived from all three types of rock and in some cases organic material, and undergoes compaction, cementation, or evaporation from/precipitation from a saturated mineral solution. Sedimentary rock is classified as organic, (derived from organisms), clastic (formed from any size particle of preexisting rock), or non-clastic (also referred to as chemical), where the sedimentary rock is formed from the evaporation of a solution that is saturated with mineral compounds. Examples of organic sedimentary rocks are coal and limestone. Examples of clastic sedimentary rocks are conglomerate and shale. Examples of non-clastic or chemical sedimentary rocks are rock gypsum and rock salt.

A metamorphic rock is an igneous, sedimentary, or another metamorphic rock that has either been squeezed by incredible pressures deep underground and/or has been exposed to very high temperatures, altering its structure, mineral alignment, or chemical composition. Metamorphic rocks are classified as contact (from proximity to a magmatic intrusion) or regional (resulting from deep burial and pressures from plate collisions Metamorphic rock is also classified as foliated or non-foliated, foliation being the parallel alignment of the constituent minerals in bands that are perpendicular to the applied pressure. Metamorphic rocks can also be described by the grade of metamorphism which has taken place from low to high, high being the closest to the next stage in the rock cycle, melting. Examples of metamorphic rock are slate, quartzite, marble, phyllite, schist, and gneiss.
Sedimentary Rock

Metamorphic Rock

and Igneous Rock

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The three main classifications of rocks that are present in the Earth's crust are Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary rocks.

The three different types of rocks are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic

Answer 2

Igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary.

Answer 3

Rocks are classified as igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic. There is extrapolation into subsets of each type of rock. The mantle of Earth is a boiling, plastic pool of magma (melted rock) which carries the continents on their tectonic journeys and bubbles out of fissures as lava onto the surface. Igneous rocks result in the upwelling of magma. If the magma cools and crystallises beneath the surface, the rock resulting is termed a plutonic rock or intrusive igneous rock. If the magma (lava, actually) cools and crystallises upon the surface, the resultant rock is extrusive igneous rock or volcanic rock. Intermediate-cooled (intermediate space between where plutonic and volcanic rock forms) rock are called hypabyssal rocks. Surface cooled rocks cool faster and thus have smaller crystals. Plutonic rocks cool more slowly and thus have larger crystals. Volcanic rocks cooling upon the ocean floor have smaller crystals than those that form on land, as cooling is hastened in cold ocean water.

Sedimentary rocks are laid down in strata. River sediment compactifies, layer upon layer and eventually lithifies. Sedimentary rock can be made of lithified (turned to rock) sediment in the form of mud (mudstone) or sand (sandstone) or compressed once-alive organisms (chalk). Metamorphic rocks were once igneous or sedimentary rocks but have been altered by heat or pressure.

Answer 4

The three major classifications of rock are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Igneous rocks form from the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. Sedimentary rocks are formed by the accumulation and cementation of sediments. Metamorphic rocks are created from the alteration of existing rock through heat, pressure, or chemical processes.

Answer 5

The three types of rocks are sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic.

Answer 6

the rocks are igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary.

Answer 7

igneous, metamorphic, and sedementary

Answer 8

igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary