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Early humans used stones in their everyday life. They
did not know how they formed, but they used tools fashioned from stones.
These tools were used as weapons, in agriculture, grinding food, or to
build a house. Even the first wheels were made of stones.
Learning about the rock cycle is more than just
identifying rocks and minerals. Rocks can hold clues of how the Earth
formed and evolved through time, and it is for us to interpret ancient
environments. Geology unlike other scientific fields incorporates the
fourth dimension, time. As the Earth moves slowly through time, the
landscape can change from cold to hot, from rainy to dry. It can melt
large spans of the ocean or erode the highest mountains. As these
processes of the rock cycle are at work, they are superimposed by living
organisms, especially within the last billion years of time.
The interface of the Earth and life is a unique
feature of the Rock Cycle. Plants require the nutrients that minerals
from the rocks provide. Rocks are sometimes considered a dead science,
but add water and life can come from rocks.
Stone weapon
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Grinding stone
Tree growing from granite
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