The Rock Cycle

What is The Rock Cycle?

Within Geography, which covers maps, landforms, weather, climate, population and settlements: understand how our planet and people connect, this topic explains The Rock Cycle. Geography explains how places, people and natural processes connect, so each topic here combines a clear definition with a visual model.

Check that you can explain The Rock Cycle in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.

Understanding The Rock Cycle helps you explain patterns on maps and in the news, and make reasoned decisions about places and environments.

The Rock Cycle in detail

The rock cycle describes how rocks change between three types over millions of years. Igneous rocks form when magma or lava cools and crystallises, such as granite (slow cooling underground, large crystals) and basalt (fast cooling at the surface, small crystals).

Sedimentary rocks form when sediment is deposited in layers, compacted and cemented, as with sandstone, limestone and chalk, and often contain fossils. Metamorphic rocks form when existing rocks are changed by heat and pressure without melting, such as marble from limestone and slate from shale. Weathering, erosion, burial, melting and uplift link them in a cycle.

How the interactive helps you understand The Rock Cycle

Watch the cycle in the interactive. Use any sliders or buttons it offers to change the values and see how the cycle responds.

Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of The Rock Cycle.

Real-life uses and examples

• Support an answer about The Rock Cycle with a named case study and specific evidence.
• Interpret a graph or map that shows The Rock Cycle and say what it suggests.
• Describe a real place where The Rock Cycle can be seen, using a map or photograph.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Writing general statements without a named place or example.
• Mixing up cause, effect and consequence when you explain The Rock Cycle.
• Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.