Geologic Cycles

GEOLOGIC CYCLES

by Anton Antonio

March 13, 2015

Geological cycle is the continuous process in which hot, molten materials coming to the surface of the Earth from its interior forms igneous rocks, are then broken down by weathering to create soil and sedimentary rocks.

Geological processes are dynamic processes at work in the earth’s landforms, surfaces and landscape.  These processes involve the physical geologic changes starting and coming from within the earth or the interior of the earth… often referred to as internal processes as opposed to external processes which are triggered by the heating from the sun.

The mechanisms involved in geologic processes are weathering, erosion and plate tectonics or a combination of these processes.  These geologic processes could be considered destructive or constructive depending on their effects to the habitat.  They are:

1. WEATHERING – There are two types of weathering, physical and chemical.  Weathering is (either or both) the physical or chemical disintegration of rocks.  While chemical weathering happens with the decomposition of rocks from chemical reactions, physical weathering is the process of rocks breaking up to smaller fragments without changing their chemical properties.
2. EROSION – Erosion happens when rocks and sediments are picked up and moved to another place by ice, water, wind or gravity.
3. PLATE TECTONICS – Plate tectonics is a theory explaining the structure of the earth’s crust and many associated phenomena resulting from the interaction of the boundaries of the rigid lithospheric plates that move slowly over the underlying mantle.  Convection currents and uneven heat flows passing through the core and mantle of the earth break up the overlying crust into huge blocks called tectonic plates (Medina, Zafaralla, Sierra, Cuevas, Macandog and Cervancia, 1999).

Knowledge on the study of Mother Earth and the environment will not be complete without considering and dwelling on the geologic cycle.

Just my little thoughts…

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REFERENCE:

Medina, C. P., Zafaralla, M. T., Sierra, Z. N., Cuevas, V. C., Macandog, D. M., and Cervancia, C. R. (1999). “Ecosystem Structure and Dynamics”. University of the Philippines Open University, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines