This document summarizes Sara Huckabey's geology project examining three rock types: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. For each rock type, Sara describes examples she found in different locations, provides pictures and her analysis of each rock, and identifies the type of rock based on its characteristics. She believes one igneous rock is feldspar found in a creek bed near Bakersfield. Her metamorphic rocks include possible slate found at Morro Bay beach and quartzite from a creek in Coalinga. The sedimentary rocks are likely sandstone from Pyramid Lake and limestone from caves at Pismo Beach.
2. What is Geology
• Geology is the science that pursues an understanding
of planet Earth.
• With this project we will focus on physical geology.
• Physical geology examines the materials composing
Earth and seeks to understand the many processes
that operate beneath and upon its surface.
• We will be examining three different types of rocks
and their surroundings of where they were found.
• The three types of rock will be Igneous,
metamorphic, and sedimentary.
3. Igneous Rocks
Igneous Rocks form as molten rock
cools and solidifies. A very famous
formation of Igneous rocks is Mount
Rushmore located in the Black Hills of
South Dakota. Igneous Rocks from in
two ways they either crystallize from
magma at depth or the lava solidifies
at the Earth’s surface.
4. Igneous Rock
With rock I believe it could be
feldspar, which falls in felsic
category. Because of its light
color and looking up other
pictures of this type of rock it
lead me in this direction. It
was a pretty big rock and
though some parts are
smooth it also feels very
rough.
5. Location of Igneous Rock
• This rock I found in another creek bed but by where I live in
Bakersfield. I am pretty sure this is not where it originated from, but
the rock was interesting compared to all of the other rocks that I
found. It didn’t really belong, but this rock had an interesting color
to it and it can be found in a lot of different areas. When I went to
the creek it was dry so I was able to look around for a bit. In the
summer time it is always full of water and everyone is down there
cooling off. Creek might not be the right term, but I can’t think of
what to call it.
6. Metamorphic Rocks
Metamorphic rocks are made from
already existing igneous and
sedimentary rocks. With metamorphic
rocks they have a parent rock, which
is the rock they were created from. It
uses metamorphism which is the
process that leads to the changes in
the texture and the chemical
composition of those rocks.
7. Metamorphic
Rock
This type of rock I want to
say is slate. Upon examining
the rock it had very fine grain
size and had a smooth dull
surface. It also resembles
shale yet it just seems to be a
bit smoother. It’s basically a
flat rock which also is a
characteristic. It is a black
color which means it contains
organic material.
The second rock I believe
could be quartzite. This rock
was very hard. It also kind of
has pinkish lines if you get to
look at it closely. This rock
has medium grain size also.
8. Location of the Metamorphic Rocks
• With the first rock that one I found on my many visits to the beach
this summer. I traveled to Morro Bay with my family and found this
rock. It wasn’t directly on the beach that I found it but when I was
exploring some distance from the actual beach. I’ve seen rocks like
this at this beach before and decided it might be something so I
picked it up and used this information to help me identify the rock.
• With the second rock when I was visiting my family that lives in
Coalinga my sister and I went down to the creak and found some
interesting rocks. This rock was sort of hard to identify so I am still
not one hundred percent sure, but decided to give it my best guess.
Creek beds are always interesting because you don’t know how
long that rock has been there or if it originated from there or came
down with a stream.
9. Sedimentary Rocks
The word sedimentary comes from
the Latin word sedimentum, which
mean to settle. Most of Earth’s solid
surface consists of sedimentary.
Sedimentary rocks are the rocks that
contain fossils, which makes them
play a big part with geologist.
10. Sedimentary
Rock
With this first rock I believe
it can be sandstone. When
you examine it closely it has
sand size grains over most of
the rock. This rock is very
abundant after shale, in the
sedimentary family of rocks.
The second rock is what I
believe could be limestone.
This rock is not smooth, but
rough. It’s white in color and
not very big or the one I
found is small. The location
of this rock was at Pismo
beach. It was in these cool
caves.
11. Location of the Sedimentary Rocks
• With the first rock, sandstone, I found this one on my way to
Disneyland. We stopped by pyramid lake on the grapevine and I
found a few rocks there. It was my first time stopping at pyramid
lake so it was very interesting. We didn’t go too far down so I found
this rock towards the top when you are looking down at the water.
• The second rock I stated that I found it at Pismo beach. I took a lot
of trips to the beach this year and found the rock near the beach.
We walked down to the beach from our hotel and found all of these
cool white caves. They were very interesting and I had never been
to this area of the beach before. This was just a little piece that I
found near some of the caves.