The rock cycle produces and recycles the materials that make up the Earth's structural framework.
The Earth and its natural environments sustain themselves through a series of cycles that different elements move through on a continuous basis. The rock cycle involves the transformations rocks go through as they work their way through the Earth’s layers. As with most of a nature’s cycles, rocks fulfill an essential role within nature’s delicate balance. Does this Spark an idea?
The Rock Cycle
The rocks currently visible on the Earth’s surface have moved through transition stages that transformed them from one form into another. The importance of the rock cycle lies in how it forms and recycles the various layers that make up the Earth. According to the Center for Educational Technologies, these transitions occur as rocks form, break down and then reform again. Their physical makeup develops out of crystal-like fragments that combine over time. The Earth’s tectonic plates act as the forces that keep the cycle in motion by breaking them up then moving them back together again. Tectonic plates-also made out of rock-float about on the Earth’s mantle, which sits just beneath the Earth’s crust.
Function
The importance of the rock cycle lies in how internal and external processes work together to form the materials that make up the Earth. To do this, the cycle moves through three different stages that produce three different types of rock. According to the Center for Educational Technologies, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock types appear as materials shift from one layer of Earth to another. As tectonic plates move, volcanic eruptions produce a liquefied material called magma or lava. As these materials cool, they may undergo compression and become sedimentary rock or they may be subjected to further heat, which produces metamorphic rock types.
Igneous Rock
According to the Center for Educational Technologies, the magma produced by volcanoes contains a mass of melted minerals. As magma cools over time, crystalline structures begin to form. Volcanic eruptions send magma across the Earth’s surface as well as into underground layers. The magma that settles underground cools slower than what makes its way to the Earth’s surface. In effect, igneous rock can form on the surface or within the underground layers. The next stage in the rock cycle will depend on the area in which an igneous formation resides. These rocks hold a special importance within the rock cycle as the other two types of rocks evolve from igneous formations. They also make up the foundation on which the Earth’s continents sit, according to Science Clarified.
Sedimentary Rock
Sedimentary rocks form from igneous formations as the weathering effects of wind and water break igneous materials into sediment fragments on the Earth’s surface. According to the Center for Educational Technologies, these resulting fragments can be transported to other areas and eventually drop down further into the ground as layers begin to pile on the surface. Over long periods of time, an accumulation of layers cause these fragments to cement together to form sedimentary rock formations. According to Science Clarified, the importance of sedimentary rocks lies in their ability to hold and preserve fossil remains, which can provide valuable information about the Earth’s history and structural makeup.
Metamorphic Rock
According to the Center for Educational Technologies, metamorphic rock forms in places where magma has settled in areas beneath the Earth’s surface. This rock’s importance lies in the role it plays in forming the Earth’s crust, or surface layer. This rock type gets its name from the word "metamorphosis" as heat and pressure work to restructure igneous rock formations. Heat conditions arise from the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates. The layers sitting on top of these formations can also create heat in the form of weight pressure. In the process, igneous materials begin to bake and form crystal-like structures. These crystals can grow larger as heat continues to bake them together, which results in metamorphic rock formations.
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