.

Smooth, black and

glassy. An igneous
rock with very sharp
edges formed where
it has been broken.
Very useful for
making cutting
tools .

Obsidian
Obsidian

Rough, light grey,

and full of holes. An
igneous rock that is
very light because it
is full of gas bubbles.
A rock that can float
on water!

Pumice Pumice
 .
Rough, blue-grey, with a
mixture of small and
larger crystals. An
igneous rock formed from
cooled lava. Also known
as “Bluestone”, it is a
very useful building
material.

Basalt Basalt

Very obvious white,

black and pink crystals.
An igneous rock formed
from cooled magma.
Beautiful when
polished, it is used for
memorials like
gravestones.

Granite Granite
 .
Brown and looking
very smelly. Formed
when lava has been
extruded through
narrow openings. It
doesn’t matter if you
step in this igneous
doggy-do, because
it’s rock hard!

Ropy Lava
Ropy Lava

A mixture of sand and

pebbles cemented
together. This
sedimentary rock was
formed when a strong
flood washed out all
sizes of material .

Conglomerate
Conglomerate
 .
Dark grey with very
fine crystals. This
metamorphic rock has
formed from siltstone
that was originally
black oozy mud found
in swamps.

Shale Shale

Light coloured and very

crumbly. This
sedimentary rock is
quite young and has not
had time to cement
together properly, so it
is too soft and weak to
be of any use to us.

Siltstone
Siltstone
 Yellow, with obvious
sand-sized crystals
cemented together. The
most common
sedimentary rock, it is
still being formed today
wherever a river is spilling
silty water into the sea.
.

Sandstone Sandstone

Mud-coloured with
obvious layers. This
sedimentary rock shows
how floods have
washed through a
variety of landscapes,
depositing slightly
different sands each
time.

Layered Sandstone
Layered Sandstone
 Creamy coloured and
often full of fossil
shells. This
sedimentary rock
formed from layers of
calcareous material
floating down from
dead, shelled sea
creatures above.
.

Limestone Limestone

Pure white and very

soft. When layers of
tiny shells rain down
onto the sea bed in
clean water, this
sedimentary rock
results. A teacher’s
best friend before
whiteboards!

Chalk Chalk
 . Light coloured and with
an obvious cell structure.
This sedimentary rock is
the fossilised remains of
calcium carbonate that
has been organised by a
colony of sea creatures
called polyps.

Coral
Coral

Pink and crystalline.

This sedimentary rock
formed when an ancient
sea full of red algae
evaporated. Crushed
up, it will end up from
dining room tables to
aluminium smelters!

Rock salt
Rock salt
 Bluish and crystalline, with
delicate lines and patterns.
This rock has
metamorphosed from
limestone under great
pressure and heat. Highly
valued for decorating
buildings and bathrooms

Marble
Marble

White and crystalline. This

rock has metamorphosed
from sandstone.
Extremely hard, and when
the pressure has been
high enough, it can be a
clear crystal.

Quartzite
Quartzite
 .

Obsidian
Basalt

Pumice Granite
 .

Ropy Lava
Conglomerate

Layered Sandstone
Chalk
 .

Shale Sandstone

Marble
Quartzite
 .

Limestone Siltstone

Coral
Rock salt
.
.
.