let's talk about the rock cycle with starbursts the starbursts are our rocks it doesn't really matter what type of rocks they are any rocks will do maybe these rocks are part of a frozen mountain range where ice and wind break off small pieces or they're in a desert being blasted by wind and sand or maybe our rocks are in the jungle where running water and plant roots break them apart into small pieces either way our rocks are being weathered weathering happens when rocks are broken into small pieces called sediment weathering is caused by wind water
ice animal activity and even plant roots all of these things break off small pieces of rock sediment is what you call these tiny pieces of rock sediment is carried or eroded away by gravity wind water or ice and deposited somewhere else sediment is quickly buried under more and more layers of sediment [Music] compaction happens as the layers build up the weight and pressure of the top layers presses on the bottom layers squeezing them together we can show compaction using our starburst sediment by squeezing them together with their hands compaction sticks the tiny pieces of rock
together like puzzle pieces cementation happens when the sediment builds up there's usually water around it this could be rain water ground water or water from a river or stream either way the water has minerals dissolved in it as the water evaporates the minerals harden and stick the sediment together like glue the sticky sugar in the starbursts acts like the minerals in the water to stick our starburst sediment together into a sedimentary rock so we started with sediment which was then compacted and cemented together to make a sedimentary rock what if that rock is buried deep
underground where it's melted from the heat of earth's core then it becomes magma [Music] that magma can erupt out of a volcano becoming lava the magma or the lava can then cool and harden to form an igneous rock so we started with sediment which became a sedimentary rock and then was melted and cooled into an igneous rock let's say that rock is buried underground but it doesn't get quite hot enough to melt into magma instead the immense heat and pressure change the rock into a metamorphic rock so our igneous rock has undergone heat and pressure
to become a metamorphic rock but the cycle doesn't stop there that metamorphic rock can then be weathered back into sediment or maybe the igneous rock gets weathered into sediment or the metamorphic rock melts and cools into igneous the sedimentary can be turned into metamorphic the cycle continues all over earth and even under its surface rocks are changing and being recycled into new and different types of rocks sedimentary igneous and metamorphic this video was created by lafontaine of knowledge for more be sure to like and subscribe to my channel and check the show notes for a
link to lesson materials that go along with this video
