WHAT IS THE ROCK CYCLE

Rocks are created and destroyed as part of the natural cycle of nature.

Wind and water are two of the major processes that recycle rocks. Wind abrades rocks by blowing small rocks and sand particles against other rocks and wares the larger rocks away particle by particle. Water grinds rocks away by wave action along the ocean, lakes and rivers.

These abraded particles redeposit as new layers of sediment and get buried deeper and deeper to be reheated and put under greater and greater pressure until they form new rock.

Igneous material comes to the surface by volcanic processes where it cools forming rock that over time may get ground away forming new layers of sediment that gets buried deep enough to be reheated forming ether metamorphic rocks or new igneous rocks.

Rocks undergo change as they are reworked by natural processes of forming and then reforming, this is "The Rock Cycle".

The "Rock Cycle Chart" gives you an idea of how the Rock Cycle Process works.