4/13/2018 The Rock Cycle: Learn The Types Of Rocks & Minerals

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FEB 21, 2016 @ 02:57 PM 19,426 

The Rock Cycle: Learn The Types Of Rocks &

Minerals

Trevor Nace, CONTRIBUTOR

FULL BIO 
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

The Rock Cycle is Earth's great recycling process where igneous, metamorphic,
and sedimentary rocks can all be derived from and form one another. Analogous to
recycling a Coke can, where an old can will be used to produce a new can, the rock
cycle is ever changing the rocks and minerals that make up Earth. Here we will
explore this process in light of teaching kids and a bit about how the ground beneath
them works.

This guide is meant to be a high level overview of how rocks are formed, the
processes that transform rocks and minerals, and how they are destroyed. We will
follow a pseudo "life" of a rock from igneous to sedimentary to metamorphic and
beyond.

The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks. - Tennessee Williams

The rock cycle by definition is a natural process by which sedimentary, igneous, and
metamorphic rocks are created, changed from one type to another, and destroyed.
But how do we go from the dirt you feel under your feet or the sand on a beach to a
metamorphic rock? Where does sand on a beach come from and why are all the sand
grains uniform in size, color, and shape? These are all questions that the rock cycle
answers.

3 Types of Rocks

To start to understand the rock cycle we must first understand the three primary
types of rocks: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. These rocks are
differentiated by their physical properties, chemistry, biology (fossils), but mostly by
their origin.

Sedimentary rocks are rocks formed from the compression of sediments,

dirt, or sand we see on the surface of Earth today. As you bury sediment
deeper and deeper into the crust, temperatures and pressures increase to the
point that the individual grains are cemented together or lithified. Sediments
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can be either abiogenic or biogenically sourced. Sedimentary rocks often

contain fossils from marine organisms or are entirely made up of fossils in
the case of many carbonates around the world.

Igneous rocks are formed from cooling magma deep in Earth's crust or
mantle. This cooling magma crystalizes to form rocks like the granite in your
house. A rock that cools within Earth's crust will cool very slowly and form
larger crystals and is called an intrusive igneous rock. Magma that is ejected
to the surface of Earth a volcanic eruption or at a spreading center cools very
quickly, contains small crystals typically and is called an extrusive igneous
rock.

Metamorphic rocks are a formed from the partial melting of previously

existing material, either sedimentary, igneous, or older metamorphic rocks.
Metamorphic rocks are dependent on the degree of melting, where complete
melting "resets" the rock to magma and will then form igneous rocks when
cooled.

The 3 types of rocks (Credit: lonestargemstones.com)

The three types of rocks above can each form one another by melting or erosion and
subsequent lithification. This process helps to bring nutrients from deep in Earth's
mantle to the surface. This continual recycling of nutrients and elements helps to
sustain life on Earth and maintain its biogeochemical processes.

The Rock Cycle

As mentioned above the rock cycle acts to recycle rocks and the minerals that make
up rocks. The best way to explain the cycle is with the rock cycle diagram below
and with examples of how each rock type can transform into another rock type.

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The Rock Cycle (Credit: abrighton.com)

Igneous or metamorphic rocks to sedimentary rocks - As igneous rocks weather and

erode from mountains they are transported by water and wind down slope to
sedimentary basins such as lakes or oceans. This process results in an accumulation
of sediment that continually buries deeper sediment. Imagine how much sediment
the Mississippi River transports from the continent into the Gulf of Mexico. This
sediment continually piles on top of one another. Eventually the sediment originally
from eroded igneous rocks gets buried deep enough that the sediments begin to
lithify. High temperatures and pressures compact the sediment enough to expel
water and cement the grains into a sedimentary rock. The same process applies for
metamorphic rocks, which weather and erode to form sediments that are then
lithified.

Igneous or sedimentary rocks to metamorphic rocks - Igneous rocks can form

metamorphic rocks by either local contact metamorphism or regional
metamorphism. Imagine a granite that finds itself all of a sudden in contact with
magma from a nearby volcanic eruption. This contact with extremely hot magma
will alter the granite chemically and physically to form gneiss, the metamorphic
form of granite.

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Comparison of granite versus gneiss (Credit: Geology.com)

Another way to form gneiss from granite is to have high stress or pressure from
regional plate tectonics. For example the India plate colliding with the Eurasian
plate, part of global plate tectonics. The collision provides enough stress to
transform igneous rocks to metamorphic rocks. Lastly, you can bury a rock to depths
deep enough to partially melt but not deep enough to completely melt. A similar
process takes place with transforming sedimentary rocks into metamorphic rocks.
Local heating or regional stress and temperature can be enough to change a quartz
sandstone into a metamorphic quartzite.

Metamorphic or sedimentary rocks to igneous rocks - The process of forming

igneous rocks from metamorphic or sedimentary rocks requires complete melting. If
you do not fully melt the metamorphic or sedimentary rock it will just be a
metamorphic rock. The primary way that you can present a rock with high enough
temperatures and pressures to melt completely is to bury it to mantle or near mantle
depths. This often happens from subduction of an oceanic plate underneath a
continental plate. This process formed the Rocky Mountains, Andes, and Aleutian
and Japan Island chains. With complete melting you "reset" the clock and the newly
formed igneous rock is a brand new mixture of elements and minerals.

To help explain better the rock cycle video below by MIT students help to explain the
process. This animation cleverly used jellybeans to represent sediment grains and
transforms them to represent different types of rocks.

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Rock Cycle

How to Teach Rock Cycle

If you're interested in teaching kids, a rock cycle worksheet is very helpful to walk
through examples. NASA has a great PDF worksheet that helps kids learn how
environmental variables such as wind, oceans, pressure, heat, etc. effect rock types. I
would also recommend showing them the video above on the rock cycle to help as a
visual aid. You can also teach the rock cycle by turning the diagram into a song from
YouTube or another great rock cycle song from YouTube. A combination of
explaining the different rock types, using the interactive worksheet and singing
songs should allow your students to get a good grasp of the process.

It's important to keep in mind scales of reference when teaching and learning the
rock cycle. The process of turning an igneous rock into a sedimentary rock takes
place over tens of millions of years. It's hard to perfectly piece together the "life" of a
rock in terms of the environmental conditions and processes that took place to
create what we see today. Therefore, geologists piece together clues about the
mineralogy, biology, physical properties, and many other sources to determine the
history of a type of rock. These clues help geologists reconstruct what the world
looked like thousands to millions to billions of years in the past. The clues within the
rock cycle will also help provide information on how the Earth will change in the
future. It is by studying this process that we know in greater detail about the past,
present, and future here on Earth.

Trevor Nace is a PhD geologist, founder of Science Trends, Forbes contributor, and
explorer. Follow his journey @trevornace.

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