The Rock & Rock Cycle

What is a rock?

• In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid

aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.
• The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock.
 Rock Cycle
• The Rock Cycle is a group of changes.
• Igneous rock can change into sedimentary rock
or into metamorphic rock.
• Sedimentary rock can change into metamorphic
rock or into igneous rock.
• Metamorphic rock can change into igneous or
sedimentary rock.
 Igneous rock

• Igneous rock forms when magma cools and makes crystals. 

• Magma is a hot liquid made of melted minerals. The minerals
can form crystals when they cool.
• Igneous rock can form underground, where the magma cools
slowly.
• Or, igneous rock can form above ground, where the magma
cools quickly.
• When it pours out on Earth's surface, magma is called lava.
Yes, the same liquid rock matter that you see coming out of
volcanoes.
 Cont.

• There are places on Earth that are so hot that rocks melt to
form magma. Because magma is liquid and usually less dense
than surrounding solid rock, it moves upward to cooler regions
of the Earth.
• As the magma loses heat, it cools and crystallizes into an
igneous rock.
• Magma can cool on the Earth's surface, where it has erupted
from a volcano (extrusive rock) or under the Earth's surface,
where it has intruded older rocks (intrusive rock).
• Extrusive igneous rocks form when magma reaches the
Earth's surface a volcano and cools quickly.
• Most extrusive (volcanic) rocks have small crystals. Examples
include basalt, rhyolite, and andesite.

Rhyolite Andesite
Basalt
• Intrusive, or plutonic, igneous rocks form when magma cools
slowly below the Earth's surface.
• Most intrusive rocks have large, well-formed crystals.
Examples include granite, gabbro, and diorite.

Granite Gabbro Diorite

 Sedimentary Rocks

• On Earth's surface, wind and water can break rock into pieces.
They can also carry rock pieces to another place.
• Usually, the rock pieces, called sediments, drop from the wind
or water to make a layer.
• The layer can be buried under other layers of sediments.
• After a long time the sediments can be cemented together to
make sedimentary rock.
– In this way, igneous rock can become sedimentary rock.
• Any rock (igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic) exposed at
the Earth's surface can become a sedimentary rock.
 Cont.
• Sedimentary rocks tell us what the Earth's surface was like in the
geologic past.
• They can contain fossils that tell us about the animals and plants or
show the climate in an area.
• Sedimentary rocks are also important because they may contain
water for drinking or oil and gas to run our cars and heat our
homes.
• Clastic sedimentary rocks form by weathering processes which
break down rocks into pebble, sand, or clay particles by exposure
to wind, ice, and water. 
• Clastic and nonclastic sedimentary rocks are the only members of
the rock family that contain fossils.
 Cont.

Conglomerate Breccia Sandstone Shale

 Nonclastic sedimentary rocks
• Nonclastic sedimentary rocks form from chemical reactions, chiefly
in the ocean. 
• Nonclasticand clastic sedimentary rocks are the only members of the
rock family that contain fossils as well as indicators of the climate
that was present when the rock was formed. 
• Nonclasticsedimentary rocks are named according to the mineral
present.
• Limestone=composed of the mineral calcite, may contain marine
fossils, formed by precipitation from water
• Rock salt= composed of the mineral halite (salt), formed by
evaporation
• Rock gypsum= composed of the mineral gypsum, formed by
evaporation
Gypsum Limestone
 Metamorphic Rocks
• Any rock (igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic) can become
a metamorphic rock.
• If rocks are buried deep in the Earth at high temperatures and
pressures, they form new minerals and textures all without
melting. If melting occurs, magma is formed, starting the rock
cycle all over again.
• The term "metamorphic" means "to change form."
• Changes in the temperature and pressure conditions cause the
minerals in the rock to become unstable so they either reorient
themselves into layers (foliation) or recrystallize into larger
crystals, all without undergoing melting.
 Foliated metamorphic rocks

• Foliated metamorphic rocks are formed within the Earth's

interior under extremely high pressures that are unequal,
occurring when the pressure is greater in one direction than in
the others (directed pressure). 
• This causes the minerals in the original rock reorient themselves
with the long and flat minerals aligning perpendicular to the
greatest pressure direction.
• This reduces the overall pressure on the rock and gives it a
stripped look.
 Nonfoliated metamorphic rocks

 
• Nonfoliated metamorphic rocks are formed around igneous
intrusions where the temperatures are high but the pressures are
relatively low and equal in all directions (confining pressure).
• The original minerals within the rock recrystallize into larger
sizes and the atoms become more tightly packed together,
increasing the density of the rock.

Quartzite
Thanks