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The three types of rocks—igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic—are all subject to processes that change one rock type into another. The images below show several types of rocks undergoing these processes.
Just as evaporation and precipitation are processes that move water through the water cycle, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock-forming processes move rocks through the rock cycle. In this investigation, you’ll examine a detailed example of a rock traveling through the rock cycle.
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| R.W.
Decker, USGS |
| Lava flowing from a volcano
in Hawaii forms igneous rocks. |
|
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| Matthew Nyman, TERC |
| Sedimentary and and metamorphic
rocks in Arizona were broken into sediments
and carried away, leaving the Grand Canyon
behind. |
|
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| Matthew Nyman, TERC |
| Metamorphic rocks in Arizona
show formerly flat sedimentary layers squeezed
into new shapes. |
|
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| NOAA |
| Rocks in Hawaii have been
broken into sediments and have accumulated
on this beach, where they might form a sedimentary
rock. |
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