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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
The concept of the rock cycle is attributed to James Hutton (1726–1797), the 18th-century founder of modern geology. The main idea is that rocks are continually changing from one type to another and back again, as forces inside the earth bring them closer to the surface (where they are weathered, eroded, and compacted) and forces on the earth sink them back down (where they are heated, pressed, and melted). So the elements that make up rocks are never created or destroyed — instead, they are constantly being recycled. The rock cycle helps us to see that the earth is like a giant rock recycling machine
All three sorts of rocks are continually being created, modified and destroyed by many different geological processes, operating at all scales of both length and time. This can be a single crystal grain decomposing during weathering, to the ocean being formed as a result of the long strings of volcanoes that exist along the ocean floors (more on that later). A good way of viewing how different types of rock may be connected by processes that form and re-form them is through a conceptual system known as the rock cycle.
The rock cycle not only sets the three main groups of rocks into a spatial context, it also links them through processes of formation and transformation.
Processes that take place at the surface of the Earth include weathering, transportation and deposition, as well as biological processes such as the growth of some of the animals and their shells or skeletons, which form parts of sedimentary rocks.
Inside the Earth, processes include burial and subsidence, which may lead to metamorphism as pressure and heat builds up, and then potentially to melting and the first step to forming the next igneous rock.
there are many routes around the rock cycle. The most direct route through the cycle is probably:
An igneous rock is weathered and eroded, the bits are transported somewhere where they build up to form sediments. These undergo burial and are compacted to form a sedimentary rock.
The sedimentary rock is heated during deep burial. The heat and pressure may first form a metamorphic rock, but this may never see the surface of the earth before it is melted to form a magma – hot liquid rock.
The magma rises up and cools, forming a new igneous rock and the cycle starts again.
