Rocks and the Rocks Cycle

A model showing the processes that create and change rock.

• Water Cycle

• Carbon Cycle

• Rock Cycle

• Nitrogen Cycle

This causes the most erosion in dry areas that get little rainfall.

• magma

• wind

• cooling

• weathering

occurs when sediments settle on the ground or a body of water

• erosion

• cementation

• lithification

• deposition

process which turns sediment into sedimentary rock; compaction and cementation

• cementation

• 
  deposition

• weathering

• lithification

a step in lithification; as heat and pressure increase the sediments can change chemically, this allows sediments to be "locked" or "glued" together into a solid rock

• lithification

• deposition

• cementation

• 
  sedimentary rock

This rock type forms as loose materials called sediments become cemented together. Usually, these rocks have layers.

• sedimentary rock

• 
  igneous rock

• metamorphic rock

• 
  cementation

molten rock below Earth's surface.

• Magma

• Fossils

• Lava

• Weathering

the breakdown of rock due to rain, wind, ice, sunlight, and plants.

• Erosion

• Sandstone

• Weathering

• 
  Coal

Name for rocks that have been changed by heat and pressure; can have banding (foliated) or no banding (non-foliated).

• Rock cycle

• Mineral

• Metamorphic rock

• Igneous rock

rock formed from the cooling of molten rock

• Sedimentary rock

• Rock cycle

• Igneous rock

• Hardness