Any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregation of minerals or mineraloid materials is referred to as a rock. It is classified according to the minerals it contains, its chemical makeup, and how it is created. Except for the liquid outer core and pockets of magma in the asthenosphere, rocks make up the Earth’s outer solid layer, the crust, and most of its interior.

Igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, and metamorphic rocks are the three primary types of rocks. When magma cools in the Earth’s crust or lava cools on the Earth’s surface or the seafloor, igneous rocks develop. Diagenesis or lithification of sediments, which are created by weathering, transport, and deposition of existing rocks, produces sedimentary rocks. Existing rocks are metamorphosed when they are exposed to extreme pressures and temperatures, such as when continental plates collide.:31″33, 134″139

Mineral grains, which are crystalline solids produced from atoms chemically linked into an ordered structure, make up the majority of rocks.:3 Mineraloids, which are hard, mineral-like substances that lack crystalline structure, such as volcanic glass:55,79, are found in some rocks. The way rock was created determines the sorts and amount of minerals it contains.

Silicate minerals, which include silica tetrahedra in their crystal lattice and makeup roughly one-third of all known mineral species and 95 percent of the Earth’s crust, are found in almost all rocks. The amount of silica in rocks and minerals has a big impact on their names and characteristics.

Mineral and chemical composition, permeability, the texture of component particles, and particle size are all factors used to classify rocks. The processes that produced the rocks gave rise to their physical characteristics. The rock cycle is a geological concept that describes the transformation of rocks from one kind to another through time. Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks are formed as a result of this transition.

There are several subgroups within those three classifications. There are no hard and fast borders between allied rocks, though. They travel through gradations from one to the other by changing the proportions of their minerals; the unique structures of one type of rock can therefore be traced, eventually melting into those of another. As a result, the meanings used in rock names merely relate to specific points in a graded sequence.

Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word igneous, which means fire, and ignis, which means fire) is created when magma or lava cools and solidifies. This magma might come from partial melts of pre-existing rocks in the mantle or crust of a planet. Typically, one or more of three mechanisms induce rocks to melt: a rise in temperature, a reduction in pressure, or a change in composition.

Download Rocks Silhouette PNG Transparent Images background