rock cycle

American  

noun

1. Geology. a continuous process by which rocks are created, changed from one form to another, destroyed, and then formed again.

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rock cycle British  

noun

1. another name for geological cycle

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Etymology

Origin of rock cycle

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

It promised to explain how mountains form and fall, the hydrologic cycle, soil formation and erosion, minerals, the rock cycle, and why ocean sediments end up in weird places like the top of mountains.

From Scientific American • Sep. 21, 2019

This evidence does not necessarily mark the starting point of plate tectonics; remnants of earlier tectonic activity could have been erased by the rock cycle.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

The theory of plate tectonics is the fundamental unifying principle of geology and the rock cycle.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

To change its position in the rock cycle, intrusive igneous rock has to be uplifted and exposed by the erosion of the overlying rocks.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

The rock cycle, as we now know, is driven by plate tectonics, with sedimentary material vanishing into subduction zones.

From Scientific American • Oct. 20, 2013