What is a rock cycle ?
A rock cycle is when a series of processes on Earth and in the crust and mantle slowly change from one rock kind to another.Also forcing deep inside the earth produces a slow cycle that builds and destroys the rocks in the crust.
Many pathways
Here is an example:your waking along the beach and you find tiny bits of rocks and erosion. One week later this erosion is carried out into the water.Over a million years the tiny bits of rock and erosion called sediment build up and form sedimentary rock.When the sedimentary rocks have heat and pressure applied on it,it forms into metamorphic rocks.From the melting of the metamorphic rocks it turn the rock into magma and lava.When the magma and lava build up it turn into a volcano.When the volcano erupts and the magma and lava cools it turns into igneous rocks this process repeats itself.
Plate Tectonics
Plate tectonics are the start of the rock cycle by helping it form magma. Plate movements cause motions of the crust that help to form sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.It causes folding and faulting to form the rocks.