2. Pismo Beach, CA & Coalinga, CA
Pismo Beach, CA is a coastal A majority of my samples were
town located on the central coast. located around Coalinga and
Pismo Beach has been inhabited thirteen miles outside of
for more than 9,000 years by Coalinga in the Los Gatos
Chumash Indians and became a Canyon. Coalinga is located in
city in 1840. There are many the central valley betweem Los
Angeles and San Francisco.
types of rocks in the
Both Coalinga and Los Gatos
area, especially sedimentary
were at one time below sea
rocks because of the large level and completely covered in
amount of water and erosion that water because of this there are
takes place. Some of the rocks I many rock types that are usually
collected came from various found in coastal regions. Also it
locations in Pismo Beach. is easy to find rocks that contain
coastal fossils.
3. Igneous Rocks
• The word Igneous comes from the Latin which means “Fire”
• Igneous rocks form from either magma within the Earth’s
crust or Lava that has erupted.
• Igneous rocks that form from lava are called extrusive igneous
rocks.
• Igneous rocks that form from magma are called intrusive
igneous rocks.
• Igneous rocks that form from magma deep within the Earth
are called plutonic igneous rocks.
• Igneous rocks are classified by the minerals that are within the
rock.
4. I believe this rock to I believe that this rock is
be Diorite. Diorite is Gabbro. Gabbro is a the
a plutonic igneous plutonic version of
rock which is Basalt. Gabbro is low in
between granite silica and does not
and gabbro. It contain quartz. Gabbro is
consists mostly of mostly hornblende
white plagioclase magnetite and
feldspar and black plagioclase.
hornblende.
5. Metamorphic Rocks
• Metamorphic rocks are formed from changed igneous and
sedimentary rocks.
• Conditions underground is the cause of change of the igneous
and sedimentary rocks.
• There are four agents of metamorphism:
• Heat
• Pressure
• Fluids
• Strain
6. I believe this rock to be Phyllite. I
discovered this rock in Los Gatos
Canyon. Phyllite is a foliated
metamorphic rock that is made of
mostly quartz, sericite mica, and
chlorite. Phyllite is made from
metamorphisized slate.
7. Sedimentary Rocks
• Sedimentary rocks are rocks that are formed from many
different types of sediment.
• Sedimentary rocks are formed from many compacted pieces
of sediment.
• These rocks are formed at the Earth’s surface, usually within
bodies of water.
• The pieces of sediment that form sedimentary rocks are
formed from erosion and weathering.
8. I believe this rock I believe this rock to
to be red chert. be conglomerate.
Chert is a fine- Conglomerate is a
grained sedimentary rock that
sedimentary rock is composed of many
composed of different types of
mineral sediment that are
chalcedony or larger than grains of
quartz. rice.
9. Works Cited
About Geology - The Complete Guide to Earth Science and Geology. Web.
11 Nov. 2011. <http://geology.about.com/>.
Ball., Jessica. Geology.com: News and Information for Geology & Earth
Science. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. <http://www.geology.com>.
Verhoogen, John. The Earth; an Introduction to Physical Geology. New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. Print.
