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Igneous Rocks
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Hi! I am one
of the Iggi cousins. We are the igneous rocks. The
name igneous comes from a Latin word igneus
which means "fire".
This is the same place we get the word ignite,
as in, "Let's ignite the match or the barbeque."
We're the oldest of Grandma Magma's kids and we come from the depths of the earth. You see, our neighborhorhood looks like this: |
| Inside the earth are four layers of rock
and metal. Layer 1. The inner core is a solid metal made up of nickel and iron. Layer 2. The outer core is a liquid molten (liquid) rock. Layer 3. The mantle is dense and mostly solid rock. Layer 4. The crust is a thin rock material. In the core, the temperature reaches to 9000 degrees F, hotter than the sun's surface! The intense heat in the inner core causes material in the outer core and mantle to move around. This motion slowly moves around the large plates on the earth's crust and causes the magma to flow out of volcanoes and cracks in the earth surface, and the iggy cousins were born. We were really hot when we were born, and depending on how we cooled off, we formed into different types of igneous rocks. |
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Come and meet some of us! |
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The "Glassy" one |
| Pumice | The "Air-filled" rock |
| Quartz | Just call me "Crystal" |
| Granite | You see me everywhere! |
| main menu | rock cycle | |
| igneous | sedimentary | metamorphic |
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