can get subducted or buried to make magma again, which starts the cycle. Figure 6 depicts these processes together: Let's look at the processes in more detail: Crystallization – this is basically the process of magma hardening into crystals of different kinds. Olivine is a mineral that takes longer to crystallize than quartz. This is why you would have quartz crystals (that are large or small, depending on cooling rates) imbedded in the olivine rock. Erosion and sedimentation – this is a combination of weathering and layering. Weathering will wear rocks down to smaller pieces known as sediments. Ice, water, and gravity carry sediments from one place to another where they layer out over time and density. Denser deposits sink more deeply but not if a less dense deposit has solidified for another reason. You don't get less rock until the sediment has all become compacted down. Metamorphism – the term metamorphism just means "change". Heat and pressure can both change rocks in different ways. If a rock has a unique pattern of any kind, metamorphism has likely taken place. Just remember that metamorphic rock is any kind of rock that has changed its characteristics in some way.
MAJOR FEATURES OF THE OCEAN FLOOR AND CONTINENTS The ocean floor and continents have interesting features that make them different across the world. The ocean floor starts at the continents and then becomes the continental shelf, leading to the continental slope to reach the abyssal plain or flattest section of the ocean floor. Sediment cascades down the continental slope to make it less steep in the area between the continental slope and the abyssal plain. Figure 7 shows these features:
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