☰ Year plan · Science

Term 2 review: energy and shifting surfaces

Week 30 · Term 2 review · 3 lessons
3

Review: landforms, volcanoes and rocks

Discovery Education Science P4: Term 2, Units 3–4
GoalRevise deposition, canyons, deltas, dunes, fossils, volcanoes and the rock cycle with new tasks.
New words
deposition · the settling of moved pieces in a new placetectonic plate · one of the huge pieces of the Earth’s crustrock cycle · the way rocks change from one kind to another again and again
Explanation

Moving water, wind, ice and gravity shape the Earth’s surface, and so do volcanoes. Deposition lays sediment in layers and builds deltas, sandbars and dunes. A canyon is a deep, steep-sided landform that a river cuts over a very long time, while a valley is wider with gentle slopes. A delta forms where a fast river slows at the sea. Wind builds dunes behind obstacles. Rock layers have the oldest at the bottom, and fossils such as those in Wadi Al-Hitan show that a sea once covered the land. The crust is broken into tectonic plates, and volcanoes cluster along their edges. Magma that reaches the surface is lava. In the rock cycle, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock change into each other. Scientists watch warning signs and people prepare plans to stay safe.

Landform or eventMain cause
canyona river eroding rock for a very long time
deltadeposition where a river meets the sea
dunewind dropping sand
volcanomagma rising near plate edges
Worked examples
LayerPositionAge
Atopnewest
Bsecondin between
Cthirdin between
Dbottomoldest
Age the layers. A cliff has four layers named A, B, C and D from top to bottom. D is the oldest and A is the newest, because new layers are laid down on top. A fossil of a big sea animal is found in layer D and a small shell in layer A.
0510152025thick pasterunny pastedistance in 10 s (cm)
Lava maths. A thick paste flows 8 cm in 10 s on a tilted tray. A runny paste flows 24 cm in 10 s. The runny paste is 24 − 8 = 16 cm farther.
Follow the rock. A piece of granite weathers into sand. Rivers carry it to the sea (erosion). It settles in layers (deposition) and is pressed into sandstone. Deep underground, heat and pressure may change it into metamorphic rock.
Class activity

Term 2 in one page. Fold a page into four parts. In each part draw and label one of these: a canyon with a river, a delta, a layered cliff with an oldest and a newest layer, the rock cycle. Under each write one sentence using a Term 2 word. Show the page to someone at home and explain your favourite part.

Practice
1
Which process lays down a delta?
2
Where are the oldest rock layers in a cliff?
3
A plate moves 3 cm a year. How far in 20 years?
4
Name the three kinds of rock in the rock cycle.