Our Dynamic Planet

Segment One: The Rock Cycle

This short video segment introduces students to the processes that change Earth’s surface. The video begins as magma is thrown from the throat of a volcano. Students follow the rock cycle through the next step, cooling igneous rock, which is hardened and weathered into soil. The eroded soil is deposited as sediment, and then cemented to form sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rock is subjected to heat and pressure, resulting in metamorphism. This video segment allows students to follow Earth materials through the entire rock cycle in a brief period of time, presenting a model that can be recalled later when learning details about each phase of the cycle.

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