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Outcrop 5:
The Rock Cycle
THERE ARE 3 MAJOR ROCK TYPES: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Igneous rocks form from cooling lava and magma, either from erupting volcanoes or inside the earth. Metamorphic rocks are formed when other rocks are subjected to heat and pressure. This changes the orientation of the minerals and creates new minerals in the rock. The Rensselaer Plateau is mainly composed of sedimentary rocks. They are formed from remnants of rocks or organic material that are deposited together. Sedimentary rocks are the only types of rocks that can have fossils.
The Rock Cycle
Image source:Actualist, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rock_cycle_illustration.PNG.
The rock cycle is the process by which rocks evolve over time. A rock that began as igneous rock could easily erode and deposit as a sedimentary rock, then undergo heat and pressure to become a metamorphic rock. This is a process that can take tens of millions of years, so don’t hold out hope on seeing it happen in front of your eyes!
Source: “The Rock Cycle.” National Geographic Resource Library, National Geographic Society, 29 Oct. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/rock-cycle/.
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