Crystal: A solid composed of atoms arranged in an orderly pattern

Dirt: Mixture of crusted rock and pieces of organic material from plants and animals which covers some area of the crust

Element: A substance such as iron, oxygen, and gold which cannot be separated or broken down by ordinary chemical methods

Extrusive Rock: Igneous rock formed from lava that solidifies on are near the earth's surface

Foliation: The bands of mineral crystals that occur in metamorphic rocks

Fossils: Remains or evidence of a living thing

Geode: A hollow rock in which crystals have formed inside the cavity

Hardness: The amount of scratch resistance on a mineral's surface

Igneous Rock: Rock formed from melted rock

Intrusive Rock: Igneous rock formed when magma cools and solidifies beneath the earth's surface

Lava: Melted magma from beneath the earth's crust which is forced up through cracks and pours forth from volcanoes

Luster: The amount of light reflected from the surface of a mineral

Magma: Molten rock beneath the earth's crust

Mantle: Layer of the earth that extends from the bottom of the crust to the earth's core.

Metamorphic Rock: Rock which is changed physically and sometimes chemically when subjected to heat and pressure

Mineral: Substances which were never alive, made of one or more elements

Rock Cycle: Gradual and continuous change of rock in the earth's crust to igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic rock

Sediments: Small pieces of rocks, shells, or the remains of plants and animals that have been carried along and deposited by wind, water, or ice.

Sedimentary Rock: Crushed rock and organic material layered and compacted into new rock

Volcano: An opening in the earth's crust that has released molten rock