Eddie Workman, age 9, of Mebane, for his question;    '¬

What is igneous rock?

When you ignite a match, you set it on fire and the word ignite is related to the word igneous. Both ignite and igneous come from an old word meaning fire. Igneous rocks are formed deep down in the roots of a volcano. There it is hot enough to melt stones and rocky minerals. A buried pool of this seething, runny mixture is called magma. Sometimes the hot magma pours up and over the ground.

When it cools, the soupy mixture of minerals become solid rocks. They are called igneous rocks because of their fiery beginnings. Granite, feldspar and quartz are some of the common igneous, fire formed rocks. Sometimes these igneous rocks contain gritty grains of sand or glistening flakes of glassy mica.