Compare igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, fossil formation, permeability and soil horizons. Review suitability for your learners before teaching.
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Worksheet StudioPractice pack · Ages 10-12
Rocks, fossils & soil layers
Take your time. Show your thinking.
1. What is soil made of: a mixture of weathered rock particles (sand, silt, clay), decaying organic matter (humus), water, air and living organisms, or pure crushed glass?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
2. When fine-grained mudstone or shale is compressed by mountain-building forces, what metamorphic rock does it form that splits into flat, waterproof sheets used for roofing: slate or chalk?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
3. Which lightweight volcanic igneous rock is so full of trapped gas bubbles that it can float on water: pumice or marble?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
4. Why do pebbles on a beach or riverbed become smooth and rounded over time: waves and currents tumble the stones against each other, wearing off sharp corners by attrition and abrasion, or people polish every stone?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
5. Which of the three main rock groups forms when molten magma or lava cools and solidifies (such as granite and basalt): igneous rock or sedimentary rock?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
6. Why does intrusive igneous rock like granite have large, visible mineral crystals, whereas extrusive basalt has tiny crystals: granite cooled slowly deep underground, giving crystals time to grow, or granite is made of sand?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
7. Which soil type has large, gritty particles with big air spaces so water drains through it very quickly: sandy soil or clay soil?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
8. How do earthworms help keep garden and farm soil healthy for plants: their burrows let air and rainwater reach roots, and their castings enrich the soil with nutrients, or they eat rocks into lava?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
9. Which soil type has microscopic particles that pack tightly together, holding water and feeling sticky when wet: clay soil or sandy soil?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
10. What is the dark, nutrient-rich organic material in topsoil formed from decomposed leaves, roots and animal remains: humus or magma?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
11. In a vertical soil profile, which uppermost layer contains the most humus, plant roots and soil organisms like earthworms: topsoil (A horizon) or solid bedrock?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
12. When limestone is subjected to high heat and pressure inside Earth’s crust, what hard, crystalline metamorphic rock does it turn into (often used for statues and tiles): marble or sandstone?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
12 questions · Seed 46 · Age guidance, not curriculum certification
View the answer key
Worksheet StudioAnswer key · Ages 10-12
Rocks, fossils & soil layers
Answers and reasoning. Review before teaching.
1. What is soil made of: a mixture of weathered rock particles (sand, silt, clay), decaying organic matter (humus), water, air and living organisms, or pure crushed glass?
A mixture of weathered rock particles (sand, silt, clay), decaying organic matter (humus), water, air and living organisms
Healthy soil combines mineral particles from weathered rock with organic humus, air spaces and water.
2. When fine-grained mudstone or shale is compressed by mountain-building forces, what metamorphic rock does it form that splits into flat, waterproof sheets used for roofing: slate or chalk?
Slate
Slate is a foliated, impermeable metamorphic rock that cleaves into flat tiles.
3. Which lightweight volcanic igneous rock is so full of trapped gas bubbles that it can float on water: pumice or marble?
Pumice
Pumice forms from frothy lava rich in gas bubbles, giving it a density lower than water.
4. Why do pebbles on a beach or riverbed become smooth and rounded over time: waves and currents tumble the stones against each other, wearing off sharp corners by attrition and abrasion, or people polish every stone?
Waves and currents tumble the stones against each other, wearing off sharp corners by attrition and abrasion
Moving water knocks rock fragments together (attrition), rounding sharp edges into smooth pebbles and sand.
5. Which of the three main rock groups forms when molten magma or lava cools and solidifies (such as granite and basalt): igneous rock or sedimentary rock?
Igneous rock
Igneous rocks crystallise from molten rock either underground (magma) or on the surface (lava).
6. Why does intrusive igneous rock like granite have large, visible mineral crystals, whereas extrusive basalt has tiny crystals: granite cooled slowly deep underground, giving crystals time to grow, or granite is made of sand?
Granite cooled slowly deep underground, giving crystals time to grow
Slow cooling of magma underground allows large interlocking crystals to form; lava on the surface cools rapidly into tiny crystals.
7. Which soil type has large, gritty particles with big air spaces so water drains through it very quickly: sandy soil or clay soil?
Sandy soil
Sand grains are relatively large, creating wide pore spaces that drain water rapidly.
8. How do earthworms help keep garden and farm soil healthy for plants: their burrows let air and rainwater reach roots, and their castings enrich the soil with nutrients, or they eat rocks into lava?
Their burrows let air and rainwater reach roots, and their castings enrich the soil with nutrients
Earthworms aerate the soil, improve drainage and recycle organic matter into plant nutrients.
9. Which soil type has microscopic particles that pack tightly together, holding water and feeling sticky when wet: clay soil or sandy soil?
Clay soil
Tiny clay particles have tiny pores that trap water and become sticky when wet and hard when baked dry.
10. What is the dark, nutrient-rich organic material in topsoil formed from decomposed leaves, roots and animal remains: humus or magma?
Humus
Humus retains moisture and supplies essential mineral nutrients to growing plant roots.
11. In a vertical soil profile, which uppermost layer contains the most humus, plant roots and soil organisms like earthworms: topsoil (A horizon) or solid bedrock?
Topsoil (A horizon)
Topsoil is the fertile surface layer where seeds germinate and most roots and decomposers live.
12. When limestone is subjected to high heat and pressure inside Earth’s crust, what hard, crystalline metamorphic rock does it turn into (often used for statues and tiles): marble or sandstone?
Marble
Marble is metamorphosed limestone.
12 questions · Seed 46 · Age guidance, not curriculum certification
Worksheet StudioPractice pack · Ages 10-12
Rocks, fossils & soil layers
Take your time. Show your thinking.
1. What is soil made of: a mixture of weathered rock particles (sand, silt, clay), decaying organic matter (humus), water, air and living organisms, or pure crushed glass?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
2. When fine-grained mudstone or shale is compressed by mountain-building forces, what metamorphic rock does it form that splits into flat, waterproof sheets used for roofing: slate or chalk?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
3. Which lightweight volcanic igneous rock is so full of trapped gas bubbles that it can float on water: pumice or marble?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
4. Why do pebbles on a beach or riverbed become smooth and rounded over time: waves and currents tumble the stones against each other, wearing off sharp corners by attrition and abrasion, or people polish every stone?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
5. Which of the three main rock groups forms when molten magma or lava cools and solidifies (such as granite and basalt): igneous rock or sedimentary rock?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
6. Why does intrusive igneous rock like granite have large, visible mineral crystals, whereas extrusive basalt has tiny crystals: granite cooled slowly deep underground, giving crystals time to grow, or granite is made of sand?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
7. Which soil type has large, gritty particles with big air spaces so water drains through it very quickly: sandy soil or clay soil?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
8. How do earthworms help keep garden and farm soil healthy for plants: their burrows let air and rainwater reach roots, and their castings enrich the soil with nutrients, or they eat rocks into lava?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
9. Which soil type has microscopic particles that pack tightly together, holding water and feeling sticky when wet: clay soil or sandy soil?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
10. What is the dark, nutrient-rich organic material in topsoil formed from decomposed leaves, roots and animal remains: humus or magma?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
11. In a vertical soil profile, which uppermost layer contains the most humus, plant roots and soil organisms like earthworms: topsoil (A horizon) or solid bedrock?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
12. When limestone is subjected to high heat and pressure inside Earth’s crust, what hard, crystalline metamorphic rock does it turn into (often used for statues and tiles): marble or sandstone?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
12 questions · Seed 46 · Age guidance, not curriculum certification
Worksheet StudioAnswer key · Ages 10-12
Rocks, fossils & soil layers
Answers and reasoning. Review before teaching.
1. What is soil made of: a mixture of weathered rock particles (sand, silt, clay), decaying organic matter (humus), water, air and living organisms, or pure crushed glass?
A mixture of weathered rock particles (sand, silt, clay), decaying organic matter (humus), water, air and living organisms
Healthy soil combines mineral particles from weathered rock with organic humus, air spaces and water.
2. When fine-grained mudstone or shale is compressed by mountain-building forces, what metamorphic rock does it form that splits into flat, waterproof sheets used for roofing: slate or chalk?
Slate
Slate is a foliated, impermeable metamorphic rock that cleaves into flat tiles.
3. Which lightweight volcanic igneous rock is so full of trapped gas bubbles that it can float on water: pumice or marble?
Pumice
Pumice forms from frothy lava rich in gas bubbles, giving it a density lower than water.
4. Why do pebbles on a beach or riverbed become smooth and rounded over time: waves and currents tumble the stones against each other, wearing off sharp corners by attrition and abrasion, or people polish every stone?
Waves and currents tumble the stones against each other, wearing off sharp corners by attrition and abrasion
Moving water knocks rock fragments together (attrition), rounding sharp edges into smooth pebbles and sand.
5. Which of the three main rock groups forms when molten magma or lava cools and solidifies (such as granite and basalt): igneous rock or sedimentary rock?
Igneous rock
Igneous rocks crystallise from molten rock either underground (magma) or on the surface (lava).
6. Why does intrusive igneous rock like granite have large, visible mineral crystals, whereas extrusive basalt has tiny crystals: granite cooled slowly deep underground, giving crystals time to grow, or granite is made of sand?
Granite cooled slowly deep underground, giving crystals time to grow
Slow cooling of magma underground allows large interlocking crystals to form; lava on the surface cools rapidly into tiny crystals.
7. Which soil type has large, gritty particles with big air spaces so water drains through it very quickly: sandy soil or clay soil?
Sandy soil
Sand grains are relatively large, creating wide pore spaces that drain water rapidly.
8. How do earthworms help keep garden and farm soil healthy for plants: their burrows let air and rainwater reach roots, and their castings enrich the soil with nutrients, or they eat rocks into lava?
Their burrows let air and rainwater reach roots, and their castings enrich the soil with nutrients
Earthworms aerate the soil, improve drainage and recycle organic matter into plant nutrients.
9. Which soil type has microscopic particles that pack tightly together, holding water and feeling sticky when wet: clay soil or sandy soil?
Clay soil
Tiny clay particles have tiny pores that trap water and become sticky when wet and hard when baked dry.
10. What is the dark, nutrient-rich organic material in topsoil formed from decomposed leaves, roots and animal remains: humus or magma?
Humus
Humus retains moisture and supplies essential mineral nutrients to growing plant roots.
11. In a vertical soil profile, which uppermost layer contains the most humus, plant roots and soil organisms like earthworms: topsoil (A horizon) or solid bedrock?
Topsoil (A horizon)
Topsoil is the fertile surface layer where seeds germinate and most roots and decomposers live.
12. When limestone is subjected to high heat and pressure inside Earth’s crust, what hard, crystalline metamorphic rock does it turn into (often used for statues and tiles): marble or sandstone?
Marble
Marble is metamorphosed limestone.
12 questions · Seed 46 · Age guidance, not curriculum certification