I dedicate this to all the science teachers who helped in my life so far.

Table of Contents

Page 3: Ronnie's Mineral Life

Pages 4&5: Ronnie the Igneous Rock

Pages 6&7: Ronnie the Sedimentary Rock

Pages 8&9: Ronnie the Metamorphic Rock

Pages 10&11: Ronnie in the Rock Cycle

Pages 12,13,14 and 15: Questions

Pages 16,17,and 18: Glossary

Hi! I'm Ronnie!

Ronnie's Mineral Life

Greetings from the rock and mineral utopia!I'm Ronnie, a starting mineral. I was a bit anxious about beginning my rock journey even though my cousin rocks told me i would be fine. Even my mom and dad were nervous about letting me go into the out side world. You see we minerals are the building blocks of rocks.Us, minerals are inorganic solid materials found in nature. Minerals have different properties such as luster, streak, color, hardness,cleavage and fracture and combine to make different types of rocks, mainly, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. My rock school also prepared for an important odyssey called The Rock Cycle. which shows how different types of rock relate and change into one another. This day marked a fresh new start and i couldn't contain my excitement.

Ronnie the Igneous Rock

After a couple years, i was ready to participate in the rock cycle. There were many places to start depending on how you formed. Many transformed into magma, sedimentary and igneous rocks. However, I transformed into a metamorphic rock which was a rare occurrence in my family. That made me even more nervous. I was ready to sign in into the registration booth. This required my current form and past form. After that i was ready to head to the volcano for the first part of my journey. In his process of melting and cooling we can either choose to be a extrusive or intrusive igneous rock. If I turned into lava and formed outside the volcano i would be considered an extrusive igneous rock. On the other hand if I turned into magma and cooled inside the Earth's surface i would be considered an intrusive igneous rock. I couldn't choose between the two types but soon enough i ended up with extrusive. Now you may be thinking,"Oh this looks fun!", but that isn't really the truth. I barely had anytime to cool and chill.

Ronnie the Igneous Rock continued...

To make matters worse, water and ice particles kept bothering me while forming. In the end i was just a plain old rock with basically a grayish color and tiny-sized crystals. It took less than a year for me to form and it would take a long time for my friends to fully turn into intrusive igneous rocks. At this point i was a bit jealous that my friends may look better than me. While I walker out of the volcano i could feel eyes glaring and fixed on my back. I tried not to think about it. Before i went to the next stage the person working at the booth asked me if i was mafic or felsic. He noticed my confused look and explained that mafic contains dark-colored minerals while felsic refers to light-colored minerals in rocks. I finally understood the concept of mafic and felsic. Before I left him, I thanked him for the information he provided. I was ready to move onto the next part of my life: The Sedimentary Stage.

Ronnie the Sedimentary Rock

I started to get used to not seeing my family and friends. Even my precious video games. "Ugh! Snap Out of it Ronnie"I said to myself. "Sorry" I quickly responded. In the sedimentary stage our previous forms go through weathering and erosion to become sediments. I realized many grayish chips pieces broke of my exterior and soon enough it started to hurt. It was like pain i never endured before. In a few minutes i was just a heap of sediment. Erosion started to take place when wind and water started carrying pieces of my original form to another place. I held on to other pieces of sediments and then i blacked out. I woke up in a wave of compaction and cementation. One second it felt like a foot was steeping on me and then another second a pile of boulder placed on me. I groaned in agony as this lasted for about 50-100 years. Soon enough I was out of the process and I could barely stand up. My back was aching and my knees were shaking. This was definitely the worst experience so far.

Ronnie the Sedimentary Rock continued...

After that experience there was three categories i could be classified in. Detrital, chemical and organic sedimentary rocks. I was tested of my particle size, what i was made up of and more. I was finally classified as a detrital rock but i wouldn't stay like that for long. As a detrital rock i was made up of sediments that layered and fused together. If i was a chemical i would be made up of dissolved minerals from water evaporated. Lastly if i was a organic rock then I would be made of up of living matter that died, was compressed and layered over millions of years. I was relieved that this stage was done but i was nervous how the metamorphic process would undergo. I knew this cycle wasn't easy but i was determined and persistent.

Ronnie the Metamorphic Rock

I couldn't tell if i was relieved or exhausted about turning into a metamorphic rock. If i remembered correctly i had to go through heat and pressure to change my sedimentary self into a metamorphic rock. I would basically become what I started with in the beginning of the rock cycle. I knew it was time to start this process. There were two types of metamorphic rocks i could end up as. A foliated and a non-foliated metamorphic rock. A foliated rock is a rock that goes through heat and pressure and has banding. However, non-foliated rocks are rocks that are only heated and have no bandings. I kept in mind even though i would be heated i wouldn't melt like an igneous rock. To turn into a metamorphic rock i had to go through heat and pressure. It wasn't like anything i experienced before. It wasn't like compaction or melting. It was a weird feeling that i would never forget. The heat slightly felt warm and the pressure compressed me.

Ronnie the Metamorphic Rock continued...

After i was done with the process i felt like something i never was. i changed both physically and mentally. I just realized i have turned into a foliated metamorphic rock. Not only that but i realized how much the rock cycle affects different types of rocks. I knew I have grown since the first day i started the rock cycle. I was pleased that this cycle was over until I overheard the rock at the registration booth talk about how the rock cycle never ends an how rock keep on changing. I groaned and laughed at the same time knowing might be an igneous, sedimentary, or another metamorphic rock in the future. My experience in the rock cycle could help future generations to come.

Ronnie in the Rock Cycle

Throughout the rock cycle, Ronnie went through many processed to turn into each rock. The Rock Cycle is a cycle that demonstrates the similarities each type of rock shares and the processes they use to change into one another. The rock cycle specifically shows how rocks even igneous rocks can easily go through heat and pressure to become a metamorphic rock without being a sedimentary rock. Ronnie fits into the rock cycle by showing the stages and processes a rock has to go through the cycle. To add on, Ronnie even showed us first hand how rocks turn into one another. Ronnie went through melting and cooling to become a igneous rock. Next he went through weathering and erosion to become sediment then compaction and cementation to become a sedimentary rock. Lastly, Ronnie had to go through heat and pressure to become a metamorphic rock.

Ronnie in the Rock Cycle continued...