Geology majority of the geologic history of the Earth. There are three major types of rock: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The rock cycle illustrates the relationships among them (see diagram). When a rock crystallizes from melt (magma or lava), it is an igneous rock. This rock can be weathered and eroded, then redeposited and lithified into a sedimentary rock. It can then be turned into a metamorphic rock by heat and pressure that change its mineral content, resulting in a characteristic fabric. All three types may melt again, and when this happens, new magma is formed, from which an igneous rock
West Crater imply that they resulted from the same movement of magma and were possibly fed by the same magma chambers. The lava dome likely formed before the lava flows erupted, suggested by its steep western side and the appearance of rock from the dome on the western lava flow. The dome's deep depression may have formed when the dome's top collapsed as lava moved out of the volcano during the eruption of the two flows. The human population within of West Crater is slightly more than 500 people, but more than 14,000 people live within of the volcano, and more than