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The Curious Bag
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Rocks seem relatively stable, but volcanic forces, pressure on accumulated sediment and erosion can change the very nature of rocks. Through the rock cycle, ingenous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks can be formed.
Definition
The rock cycle is the process through which new rocks emerge from the core of the earth, are turned into sediment and then return to the earth.
Uplifting
Plate tectonic forces bring rocks to the surface in the form of lava, granite and dyke rock. Lava cools and hardens, becoming volcanic rock. Solidified rock rises into the air as soot or emerges over a long period of time as mountains.
Erosion
Erosion factors break down rock and turn it into soot. The soot is then blown around by wind and deposited back to the earth as sediment.
Sediment
Sediment gradually becomes buried and eventually turns back into rock through heat and increased pressure beneath the surface of the earth.
Burying
Rocks are eventually driven deep enough below the surface that they return to the hot, magma layer of the earth where the rock cycle starts all over again.
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