Learn how to classify rocks

Audience

Secondary school
Learning stage

Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6
Learning area

Science
Type

Learning resources

A rock is a combination of one (such as quartzite) or more (such as granite) mineral particles. These combine through either crystallisation of molten magma (igneous rocks), settling of particles (sedimentary rocks), or reheating and pressure applied to pre-existing rocks (metamorphic rocks), with no set chemical composition or atomic structure.

Download and print this series of three posters showing the main ways that sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks are classified. They can be used to help identify rocks alongside a dichotomous key activity.