Rock cycle are forced to change as they encounter new environments. The rock cycle is an illustration that explains how the three rock types are related to each other, and how processes change from one type to another over time. This cyclical aspect makes rock change a geologic cycle and, on planets containing life, a biogeochemical cycle. When rocks are pushed deep under the Earth's surface, they may melt into magma. If the conditions no longer exist for the magma to stay in its liquid state, it cools and solidifies into an igneous rock. A rock that cools within the Earth is
Igneous rock or without suspended crystals and gas bubbles, is called magma. It rises because it is less dense than the rock from which it was created. When magma reaches the surface from beneath water or air, it is called lava. Eruptions of volcanoes into air are termed "subaerial", whereas those occurring underneath the ocean are termed "submarine". Black smokers and mid-ocean ridge basalt are examples of submarine volcanic activity. The volume of extrusive rock erupted annually by volcanoes varies with plate tectonic setting. Extrusive rock is produced in the following proportions: Magma that erupts from a volcano behaves according to its