The rock cycle is a model that describes the formation, breakdown, and reformation of rocks. All the rocks are made from minerals, the process that has been ongoing for over a billion years. It's a group of changes where one rock can change into another type of rock. Rocks have been recycled into other rocks. Rocks have been on the move for millions of years, it describes all the variable crustal process by which rock is formed, modified, transformed, broken down, and reformed.
The theory of the rock cycle was created by James Hutton, he is from Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Werner’s theory was embraced by most of the scientific community because it seemed to explain all the rocks formations found around the world, but in the 18th century is when James Hutton was only beginning to be recognized for the theory of plutonism. His theory states that rocks were formed from the process driven by heat contained by the earth’s interior. Hutton realized that rocks could be eroded,
…show more content…
H. (n.d.). The foundation of modern geology. Retrieved September 22, 2017, from https://publish.illinois.edu/foundationofmoderngeology/james-hutton-1726-1797/
The rock cycle. (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2017, from http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/geo/basics/diagrams.htm
Molina-Walters, D., & Cox, J. (2009). Chipping away at the rock cycle. Science Scope, 32(6), 66-68. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/226001168?accountid=9834
Frack, S., & Blanchard, S. A. (2005). Rockin' around the rock cycle. Science Scope, 29(2), 62. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/225942250?accountid=9834
Murck, B. W. (2001). Geology: a self-teaching guide. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
Desonie, P. D. (2016, October 12). Rock Cycle Processes. Retrieved September 25, 2017, from
Marshak, S. (2009) Essentials of Geology, 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, ch. 11, p. 298-320.
When standing on top of the butte, the rock that makes up a majority of the area is quartzite. Quartzite is a metamorphic rock that forms when existing rock is exposed to extreme amounts of heat and pressure (4). The quartzite that is found on Kamiak Butte was formed sometime around 1.47 to 1.4 billion years ago during the Paleozoic period of the Precambrian era. Many of the metamorphic rocks have been fractured and decayed due to physical and chemical weathering, but because quartzite consists of one of the strongest minerals quartz...
Herndon J. M, 2005, Current Science, Scientific Basis of Knowledge of Earth’s Composition, 88, 1034-1036)
Plummer, C.C., McGeary, D., and Carlson, D.H., 2003, Physical geology (10th Ed.): McGraw-Hill, Boston, 580 p.
Stone Mountain rises in sharp contrast to the surrounding flat, rolling landscape creating a geomorphic monadnock. Geologists appear to have consensus of the volcanic origins and underground formation of t...
Scientists sometimes use erratics to help determine ancient glacier movement.” (NSIDC, 2014). To understand the unique aspects of a gorge created in just a few days, it is necessary to look back to the events that occurred 100,000 years ago. Described by James Lovelock in his book, The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth, Milankovitch Cycles define the regular consistency of the Earth's glacial and interglacial periods.... ...
Charles Lyell Charles Lyell was a British lawyer and one of the smartest geologists known at his time. He was known as the author of the Principles of Geology, which helped popularize the theories and concepts of uniformitarianism. The Principles of Geology was the first book written by Lyell and explained the changes in the earth’s surface. He used the research and information in the book as his proof to determine that the earth was over 6,000 years old. The central argument in his book was “the present is the key to the past”, this meant that to find out what happened in the past you had to look at what was happening now.
Eckel, Edwin B., ed. Nevada Test Site. Memoir 110 Boulder, CO: The Geological Society of America, 1968
Riley, C.M. "Lahars." Geological and Mining Engineering Sciences. Michigan Tech. Web. 6 Feb. 2010. .
Hutton thought that sedimentation takes place so slowly that the oldest of rocks are made of, in his words, “materials furnished from the ruins of former continents.” The opposite happens when rock is eroded or decayed from weather or conditions of the area. He called this destruction and renewal the “great geological cycle,” and then realized that it had been happening for many years. Another one of Hutton’s theories was the Theory of Uniformitarianism. That was the idea that geological forces still at works today, were not that noticeable to people but they have a great affect on us, meaning that those forces still work the same as they did in the past. He died March 26th, 1797 in Edinburgh.
Basalt is a common extrusive igneous rock, there are a large number of volcanic provinces across Southeast Australia that have been found to contain basaltic lava flows. It is likely that these flows have come from volcanic activity caused by mantle plumes from the mesosphere. A variety of dating methods have been used to date these basaltic rocks, which have been aged from the Jurassic era right up to the late Cenozoic.
Cloud (1968) calls Banded Iron Formations, rhythmically banded chemical sediments of large, open water bodies that take different aspects but most characteristically consists of alternating layers of iron- rich and iron-poor silica. It is present in some of the oldest volcanic sequences (greenstone belts ca 2800 mya) and is a common sediment type formed until approximately 1800 mya. Although some younger formations with similar structure can be found there is great distinctions between them and the BIF’s of the Precambrian.
The Rock Cycle The Rock Cycle is a group of changes. Igneous rock can change into
Igneous rocks are formed from the ejection of earth’s volcanoes. Deep down inside earth’s mantle there lies hot magma. Magma is molten rock that is kept below the surface. This mixture is usually made up of four parts: a hot liquid substance which is called the melt; minerals that have been crystallized by the melt; solid rocks that have made themselves tangled in the melt because of loose materials, and finally gases that have become liquid. Magma is created by an increase in temperatures, pressure change, and a alter in composition. When this magma is ejected from earth’s crust it earns a new name called lava. The lava hardens and becomes an Igneous rock.
Due to the fact that rocks are composed of high intensity of elastic and brittle material, they therefore store considerable amount of strain energy that results from elasticity, during the action of plate tectonic. The brittleness leads to development of concurrent cracks on the rocks as a result of plate’s action.