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 7-9
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. What do we call a rock that has tiny connected pores or spaces that allow water to soak and pass through it (such as sandstone or chalk): a permeable (porous) rock or an impermeable rock?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
3. Which rock group forms over millions of years when layers of sand, mud, pebbles or shells are compacted and cemented together (such as sandstone, limestone and shale): sedimentary rock or igneous rock?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
4. What is the solid, unweathered layer of rock that lies beneath the subsoil at the bottom of a soil profile: bedrock or topsoil?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
5. 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
6. On the Mohs hardness scale of minerals from 1 (softest, talc) to 10 (hardest), which natural mineral is the hardest (10) and can scratch all other minerals: diamond or chalk?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
7. What is the dark, nutrient-rich organic material in topsoil formed from decomposed leaves, roots and animal remains: humus or magma?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. What is the difference between “weathering” and “erosion” of rocks: weathering is the breakdown of rock in place, whereas erosion is the wearing away and transport of rock fragments by water, wind or ice, or they mean melting?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
12. 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 questions · Seed 54 · Age guidance, not curriculum certification
View the answer key
Worksheet StudioAnswer key · Ages 7-9
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. What do we call a rock that has tiny connected pores or spaces that allow water to soak and pass through it (such as sandstone or chalk): a permeable (porous) rock or an impermeable rock?
Permeable (porous) rock
Permeable rocks have interconnected pore spaces or fractures that let water percolate through.
3. Which rock group forms over millions of years when layers of sand, mud, pebbles or shells are compacted and cemented together (such as sandstone, limestone and shale): sedimentary rock or igneous rock?
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks form in layers (strata) from deposited and lithified sediments.
4. What is the solid, unweathered layer of rock that lies beneath the subsoil at the bottom of a soil profile: bedrock or topsoil?
Bedrock
Bedrock is the parent solid rock beneath loose soil and weathered regolith.
5. 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.
6. On the Mohs hardness scale of minerals from 1 (softest, talc) to 10 (hardest), which natural mineral is the hardest (10) and can scratch all other minerals: diamond or chalk?
Diamond
Diamond ranks 10 on the Mohs hardness scale because of its strong three-dimensional covalent carbon lattice.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. What is the difference between “weathering” and “erosion” of rocks: weathering is the breakdown of rock in place, whereas erosion is the wearing away and transport of rock fragments by water, wind or ice, or they mean melting?
Weathering is the breakdown of rock in place, whereas erosion is the wearing away and transport of rock fragments by water, wind or ice
Weathering breaks rock down in situ; erosion moves the loosened sediment away.
12. 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 questions · Seed 54 · Age guidance, not curriculum certification
Worksheet StudioPractice pack · Ages 7-9
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. What do we call a rock that has tiny connected pores or spaces that allow water to soak and pass through it (such as sandstone or chalk): a permeable (porous) rock or an impermeable rock?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
3. Which rock group forms over millions of years when layers of sand, mud, pebbles or shells are compacted and cemented together (such as sandstone, limestone and shale): sedimentary rock or igneous rock?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
4. What is the solid, unweathered layer of rock that lies beneath the subsoil at the bottom of a soil profile: bedrock or topsoil?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
5. 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
6. On the Mohs hardness scale of minerals from 1 (softest, talc) to 10 (hardest), which natural mineral is the hardest (10) and can scratch all other minerals: diamond or chalk?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
7. What is the dark, nutrient-rich organic material in topsoil formed from decomposed leaves, roots and animal remains: humus or magma?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. What is the difference between “weathering” and “erosion” of rocks: weathering is the breakdown of rock in place, whereas erosion is the wearing away and transport of rock fragments by water, wind or ice, or they mean melting?
Topsoil → Subsoil → Bedrock
12. 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 questions · Seed 54 · Age guidance, not curriculum certification
Worksheet StudioAnswer key · Ages 7-9
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. What do we call a rock that has tiny connected pores or spaces that allow water to soak and pass through it (such as sandstone or chalk): a permeable (porous) rock or an impermeable rock?
Permeable (porous) rock
Permeable rocks have interconnected pore spaces or fractures that let water percolate through.
3. Which rock group forms over millions of years when layers of sand, mud, pebbles or shells are compacted and cemented together (such as sandstone, limestone and shale): sedimentary rock or igneous rock?
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks form in layers (strata) from deposited and lithified sediments.
4. What is the solid, unweathered layer of rock that lies beneath the subsoil at the bottom of a soil profile: bedrock or topsoil?
Bedrock
Bedrock is the parent solid rock beneath loose soil and weathered regolith.
5. 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.
6. On the Mohs hardness scale of minerals from 1 (softest, talc) to 10 (hardest), which natural mineral is the hardest (10) and can scratch all other minerals: diamond or chalk?
Diamond
Diamond ranks 10 on the Mohs hardness scale because of its strong three-dimensional covalent carbon lattice.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. What is the difference between “weathering” and “erosion” of rocks: weathering is the breakdown of rock in place, whereas erosion is the wearing away and transport of rock fragments by water, wind or ice, or they mean melting?
Weathering is the breakdown of rock in place, whereas erosion is the wearing away and transport of rock fragments by water, wind or ice
Weathering breaks rock down in situ; erosion moves the loosened sediment away.
12. 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 questions · Seed 54 · Age guidance, not curriculum certification