Thermal Fracture Lab Report

such as water, oil and acid just to name a few is used to fracture rocks to release gas. The water

Despite a family history of geophysicists and rock enthusiasts, I’ve never found the subject of rocks particularly fascinating. However, an exploration of Earth Science has lead me to the discovery that rocks are actually hidden gems (often literally), and that there’s more to the topic than one would think.

water fractures within the earth. Causing certain areas of the land to have an earthquake effect

The tiny pieces of rocks broken off by weathering are called sediment or alluvium. Erosion is the process of transportation of this sediment which on sea cliffs sediments becomes part of the seafloor and is washed away with the waves. The larger rocks that are broken off by sediment as shown in this picture are called scree or talus; scree builds up at the bottom of cliffs as the rocks tumble down, these piles are called scree slopes or talus piles.

On the first side of the outcrop the rock when examined was greenish and had small black grains indicative of diorite with hornblende giving the green color. The rock was similar to the outcrop encountered at Hollow rock which also had several fractures parallel although not as many, and that outcrop was also highly weathered. On the other side of the outcrop, the rock was incredibly different. This side was not weathered beyond recognition but

Broken pieces of rock would have drifted down a river, eventually the broken pieces of rock would have settled at the bottom of the water and become deposited, the deposited rocks form layers, the weight from the pieces of rock squashes the bottom layers of sediments and the water between the rocks are squeezed out, Crystals and different salts start to form which causes a type of glue- this is called cementation, eventually a sedimentary rock is formed, however this may take Millions of years.

This newly exposed rock already had small cracks - weathering and erosion took full advantage of these. Water would creep in and the freeze - thus expanding. This expansion would create more cracks. Wind and water eroded by carrying away particles from cracks like these, as well as from the surface of the rock and any other nooks. Not only did water wash particles away - it also softened the rock which made erosion easier.

Energy transfers in the rock cycle, solar energy for example, wind breaks down the sediments, heat from the sun causes the rocks to crack, rain slowly dissolves rock. Next, we have gravity, gravity moves around the rocks to its right place, some examples are waterfalls, and mudslides. Chemical energy reacts within the Earth’s crust changing rocks from one form to the other. Heat energy causes the Earth’s rocks to melt completely or partially.

Some rock’s in the Earth’s interior that are solid, are so hot that, if the pressure on these were released, or they are convected into a lower pressure zone, they could begin to melt

They are called transversal when pressure builds and the rock breaks the energy of the break

There could also be chemical and mechanical processes. Mechanical weathering actually breaks the rock, when the cracks form the water can get into the rock and break it more. Chemical weathering will only decay the rock overtime and is not as fast. Erosion can help in a few ways, but generally, it is very negative. Moved soil can be great for planting crops. A negative is that eventually erosion will erode some of Earth’s greatest natural

First of all chemical weathering is when there is rainwater that is able to react with mineral grains in rocks to form new minerals and also soluble salts. This type of reaction would usually occur when the water is slightly acidic. For this reaction to occur it needs water and would occur more rapidly at higher temperatures for example damp and warm climates would be the best for this reaction to occur. Chemical weathering usually happens more often in the spring because this is when it is more humid and hot outside and that is what chemical weathering needs for it to occur and also when it is usually hot or humid there will also be water.

10. Wait 2 minutes and write the temperature down for the rock and the water/gravel/sand mix on a piece of paper.

     Metamorphic rocks are pre-existing rocks that are changed by heat and pressure. The pre-existing rock is called the parent rock, or protolith. Metamorphism occurs in these rocks when the minerals become instable. There are two types of metamorphism, contact and regional. Contact is high temperature, low pressure. It is basically a massive rock that is baked. Regional is high pressure and low temperature. Strong fabric, or layering, develops from

When collisions between plates occur, the crust is pushed up sometimes forming ranges of mountains. This is the way that most