Wind and water erode rock and can carve out large portions over thousands of years.
Long ago Earth's surface was composed of igneous rock, but that rock was eventually transformed. The rock cycle is the process through which rock evolves into another form. The three types of rock --- igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic --- are constantly exposed to environmental forces that slowly act on them over time. The igneous rock of early Earth was battered by wind and water, which eroded the rock and often carried away tiny particles. Those particles formed into sedimentary rock. Heat and pressure from inside of the Earth turned both sedimentary rock and igneous rock into metamorphic rock over millions of years. Metamorphic rock deep underground can become so hot that it melts into magma and can burst out of the Earth as lava. When it cools it becomes igneous rock and thus the rock cycle continues. The rock cycle can be sequenced on a circular chart.
Instructions
1. Place "magma" at the top of the chart you are creating. You can simply write the word, or you can illustrate it using a picture. You will be making a circular chart. The first entry should be where 12:00 is on a clock. Positioning the order in this way makes it easy to see how one type of rock formed into another, and having the chart flow clockwise correlates with the passage of time.
2. Put "igneous rock" at approximately 2:00. Between magma and igneous rock, write a sentence explaining that magma cools and crystallizes into igneous rock, which was the first rock that covered Earth.
3. Write a paragraph at the 3:00 position that explains how weathering erodes tiny particles of igneous rock and carries it away, turning it into sediment. Place "sediment" at 4:00 on the chart.
4. Place "sedimentary rock" at approximately 6:00, as it is next in the sequence. You won't have an entry for each hour position on the clock, so space your entries where they visually look the best. Write a sentence describing the process of sediment deposits building up to become formations of sedimentary rock.
5. Label "metamorphic rock" at about 8:00. Add a sentence explaining that layers of sedimentary rock can become buried deep underground and that Earth's pressure and heat can transform the sedimentary rock into metamorphic rock, between this entry and "sedimentary rock."
6. Write a sentence to describe the process of metamorphic rock becoming so hot that it melts into magma and can erupt out of Earth's surface --- as in a volcano --- and put it around the 11:00 position.
7. Draw an arrow from each step and explanation to the next one following a clockwise motion.
8. Draw an line from igneous rock to metamorphic rock, since rock can also change directly from igneous to metamorphic. Leave room to add a sentence describing the process by which igneous rock becomes buried underground and heat and pressure change it into metamorphic rock.
9. Draw a line from metamorphic rock to sediment, leaving room to add a box with an explanation. Metamorphic rock can be pushed out to Earth's surface and become subject to erosion and weathering. This creates sediment, which eventually becomes sedimentary rock.
Tags: igneous rock, sedimentary rock, metamorphic rock, Earth surface, into metamorphic, into metamorphic rock
