5 paragraph essay rock cycle
Rocks have a reputation for being solid, hard, and indestructible. But rocks are always changing! Rocks undergo change as outlined in the rock cycle which is similar to the water cycle. Rocks change very slowly under normal activity , but sometimes catastrophic events like a volcanic eruption or a flood can speed up the process. Rocks line river beds and jut above the landscape as mountain peaks; they are fun to collect and sometimes are very beautiful. Each rock is different; some are smooth and round, some are sharp and dangerous.
the rock cycle essay
Rock , in geology , naturally occurring and coherent aggregate of one or more minerals. Such aggregates constitute the basic unit of which the solid Earth is composed and typically form recognizable and mappable volumes.
Rocks are commonly divided into three major classes according to the processes that resulted in their formation.
These classes are 1 igneous rocks, which have solidified from molten material called magma; 2 sedimentary rocks, those consisting of fragments derived from preexisting rocks or of materials precipitated from solutions; and 3 metamorphic rocks, which have been derived from either igneous or sedimentary rocks under conditions that caused changes in mineralogical composition , texture, and internal structure.
These three classes, in turn, are subdivided into numerous groups and types on the basis of various factors, the most important of which are chemical, mineralogical, and textural attributes. Igneous rocks are those that solidify from magma , a molten mixture of rock-forming minerals and usually volatiles such as gases and steam.
Since their constituent minerals are crystallized from molten material, igneous rocks are formed at high temperatures. They originate from processes deep within the Earth—typically at depths of about 50 to kilometres 30 to miles —in the mid- to lower-crust or in the upper mantle.
Igneous rocks are subdivided into two categories: intrusive emplaced in the crust , and extrusive extruded onto the surface of the land or ocean bottom , in which case the cooling molten material is called lava. Most are deposited from the land surface to the bottoms of lakes, rivers, and oceans. Sedimentary rocks are generally stratified— i. Layers may be distinguished by differences in colour, particle size, type of cement, or internal arrangement.
Metamorphic rocks are those formed by changes in preexisting rocks under the influence of high temperature , pressure , and chemically active solutions. The changes can be chemical compositional and physical textural in character.
Metamorphic rocks are often formed by processes deep within the Earth that produce new minerals, textures, and crystal structures. The recrystallization that takes place does so essentially in the solid state , rather than by complete remelting, and can be aided by ductile deformation and the presence of interstitial fluids such as water.
Metamorphism often produces apparent layering, or banding, because of the segregation of minerals into separate bands. Geologic materials—mineral crystals and their host rock types—are cycled through various forms. The rock cycle illustrated in Figure 1 reflects the basic relationships among igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks.
Erosion includes weathering the physical and chemical breakdown of minerals and transportation to a site of deposition. Diagenesis is, as previously explained, the process of forming sedimentary rock by compaction and natural cementation of grains, or crystallization from water or solutions, or recrystallization.
The conversion of sediment to rock is termed lithification. An estimate of the distribution of rock types in large structural units of the terrestrial crust is given in the Table.
The relative abundance of main rock types and minerals in the crust is shown in the Table. The texture of a rock is the size, shape, and arrangement of the grains for sedimentary rocks or crystals for igneous and metamorphic rocks.
The latter is the extent to which the bulk structure and composition are the same in all directions in the rock. The common textural terms used for rock types with respect to the size of the grains or crystals, are given in the Table.
The particle-size categories are derived from the Udden-Wentworth scale developed for sediment. For igneous and metamorphic rocks, the terms are generally used as modifiers— e. Aphanitic is a descriptive term for small crystals, and phaneritic for larger ones.
Very coarse crystals those larger than 3 centimetres, or 1. For sedimentary rocks, the broad categories of sediment size are coarse greater than 2 millimetres, or 0. The latter includes silt and clay , which both have a size indistinguishable by the human eye and are also termed dust. Most shales the lithified version of clay contain some silt.
Pyroclastic rocks are those formed from clastic from the Greek word for broken material ejected from volcanoes. Blocks are fragments broken from solid rock, while bombs are molten when ejected. The term rock refers to the bulk volume of the material, including the grains or crystals as well as the contained void space.
The volumetric portion of bulk rock that is not occupied by grains, crystals, or natural cementing material is termed porosity. That is to say, porosity is the ratio of void volume to the bulk volume grains plus void space.
This void space consists of pore space between grains or crystals, in addition to crack space. In sedimentary rocks, the amount of pore space depends on the degree of compaction of the sediment with compaction generally increasing with depth of burial , on the packing arrangement and shape of grains, on the amount of cementation, and on the degree of sorting. Typical cements are siliceous, calcareous or carbonate, or iron-bearing minerals. Sorting is the tendency of sedimentary rocks to have grains that are similarly sized— i.
Poorly sorted sediment displays a wide range of grain sizes and hence has decreased porosity. Well-sorted indicates a grain size distribution that is fairly uniform. Depending on the type of close-packing of the grains, porosity can be substantial.
It should be noted that in engineering usage— e. A well-graded sediment is a geologically poorly sorted one, and a poorly graded sediment is a well-sorted one. Total porosity encompasses all the void space, including those pores that are interconnected to the surface of the sample as well as those that are sealed off by natural cement or other obstructions.
Apparent effective, or net porosity is the proportion of void space that excludes the sealed-off pores. It thus measures the pore volume that is effectively interconnected and accessible to the surface of the sample, which is important when considering the storage and movement of subsurface fluids such as petroleum , groundwater, or contaminated fluids. Article Media. Info Print Print. Table Of Contents.
Submit Feedback. Thank you for your feedback. Introduction General considerations Rock types Rock cycle Abundance of rock types Texture Classification by grain or crystal size Porosity Physical properties Density Mechanical properties Stress and strain Elastic constants Rock mechanics Stress-strain relationships Effect of environmental conditions Thermal properties Thermal conductivity Thermal expansion Radioactive heat generation Electrical properties Magnetic properties Applications of the study of rock magnetization Basic types of magnetization Types of remanent magnetization Hysteresis and magnetic susceptibility Magnetic minerals and magnetic properties of rocks.
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You will write a narrative story about what life is like in the rock cycle. You will be provided General Outline for a Body Paragraph in an Essay: Body Paragraph. The Rock Cycle was probably the first of Earth's cycles or systems to be model of the rock cycle; each process is briefly described in the following paragraphs. When sedimentary rocks are buried to depths greater than about 5 to 10 km.
Free comparison and contrast essay Answer Save. Just to learn more about the rock and how the rock was made it …. List your sources. The rock cycle was first described by …. Rock cycle essay examples.
Like most Earth materials, rocks are created and destroyed in cycles. The rock cycl e is a model that describes the formation, breakdown, and reformation of a rock as a result of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic processes.
Metamorphic Rock Metamorphism means to change form; this is exactly what metamorphic rocks do. It will also look at how metamorphic rocks are formed and the relationship between metamorphic rocks and igneous rock and sedimentary rocks.
The Rock Cycle Steps & Science Lesson
Rock , in geology , naturally occurring and coherent aggregate of one or more minerals. Such aggregates constitute the basic unit of which the solid Earth is composed and typically form recognizable and mappable volumes. Rocks are commonly divided into three major classes according to the processes that resulted in their formation. These classes are 1 igneous rocks, which have solidified from molten material called magma; 2 sedimentary rocks, those consisting of fragments derived from preexisting rocks or of materials precipitated from solutions; and 3 metamorphic rocks, which have been derived from either igneous or sedimentary rocks under conditions that caused changes in mineralogical composition , texture, and internal structure. These three classes, in turn, are subdivided into numerous groups and types on the basis of various factors, the most important of which are chemical, mineralogical, and textural attributes.
Rock cycle
Inside Earth there is heat from paragraph push your hands together very the and feel the heat. There is read article from friction rub your hands together and feel the heat. There is also essay from rock decay the process that gives us nuclear power plants that cycle electricity. So, what does the heat do to the rock? It bakes the rock. This is not an example of text written by our writers! You can use them at you own risk following the citation rules below. But we recommend you to order a custom plagiarism-free essay written just for you from one of our writers.
Figure 1. The different colors and textures seen in this rock are caused by the presence of different minerals.
Igneous rock forms when magma cools and makes crystals. Magma is a hot liquid made of melted minerals.
5 paragraph essay rock cycle : tejomayaenergy.com
The Rock Cycle was probably the first of Earth's cycles or systems to be recognized and studied, at least in a qualitative sense. It is presented in practically every introductory geology textbook as a sort of broad, all-encompassing framework for understanding the details of rocks and minerals -- the traditional bread and butter of geology. The processes involved in this cycle are generally well-known and thoroughly covered in textbooks, but next to nothing has been done on the rates and behavior of the system as a whole. Our goal here is to develop and then experiment with a model of the rock cycle. In this figure, the boxes represent different kinds of rocks and the arrows represent processes that not only transport materials from one reservoir to another, they also transform the rocks, causing them to change their form. So for instance, one kilogram of granite, a plutonic igneous rock, is broken down by variety of chemical and physical weathering processes when it is exposed and this kilogram of material then takes the form of sedimentary particles that commonly get transported away from the site of weathering to a final resting place where the are deposited and eventually form a kilogram of sedimentary rock. In reality, some of the starting kilogram is carried away in solution and ends up in the ocean where it will eventually be deposited, perhaps with the help of some organism, to form another kind of sedimentary rock. So, our starting kilogram of granite may end up getting dispersed to different places, but it will all end up forming a sedimentary rock -- conservation of mass applies to these processes of transformation if we consider them on a global scale. Another important point to understand is that the reservoirs do not really represent things that have well-defined boundaries like a tub of water; each reservoir represents a particular state or condition of rock-forming materials. This drawing above of the rock cycle is fairly complex, so it is worth going systematically and tracing out all the possible flow paths that rock-forming materials may follow. It is also important to have a proper sense of time before starting in on this modeling exercise. In human terms, the rock cycle is incredibly sluggish -- we're talking about hundreds of millions of years.
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The rock cycle is a basic concept in geology that describes transitions through geologic time among the three main rock types: sedimentary , metamorphic , and igneous. Each rock type is altered when it is forced out of its equilibrium conditions. For example, an igneous rock such as basalt may break down and dissolve when exposed to the atmosphere , or melt as it is subducted under a continent. Due to the driving forces of the rock cycle, plate tectonics and the water cycle , rocks do not remain in equilibrium and change as they encounter new environments. The rock cycle explains how the three rock types are related to each other, and how processes change from one type to another over time. This cyclical aspect makes rock change a geologic cycle and, on planets containing life , a biogeochemical cycle.
