Rock Cycle: Transition to Sedimentary Rock
Rocks that are exposed to the atmosphere can be unstable in many ways and are vulnerable to weathering and erosion. The original rock is reduced to smaller pieces by weathering and erosion, which also removes dissolved minerals. This broken-down stuff builds up and becomes buried under more stuff. Sand grains remain to belong to the type of rock from which they were created, but when they are fused together, they form sedimentary rocks.
The lithification of these submerged smaller fragments (clastic sedimentary rock), the accumulation and lithification of material produced by living organisms (biogenic sedimentary rock – fossils), or the chemical precipitation of material from a mineral-bearing solution as a result of evaporation are all possible ways that sedimentary rocks can be created. Clastic rocks can be created from fragments of bigger rocks of any sort that have been broken apart by natural processes like erosion or from organic material like plant remnants. Minerals from chemicals dissolved from all other rock types are deposited as biogenic and precipitate rocks.
Rock Cycle
Rock cycle refers to the web of processes that outlines how the three main types of rocks- igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, form and break down based on various applications of processes of heat and pressure over due course of time. For example, sedimentary rock becomes slate when both heat and pressure are added to it. The more heat and pressure added, the process of rock metamorphoses is furthered until it changes to gneiss and the rock melts down completely and reforms as igneous rock.
Table of Content
- What is the Rock Cycle?
- Rock Cycle Diagram
- Rock Cycle Steps
- Factors Affecting Rock Cycle
- Rock Cycle- Transition and Formation
- Rock Cycle: Transition to Igneous Rock
- Rock Cycle: Transition to Metamorphic Rock
- Rock Cycle: Transition to Sedimentary Rock