Limestone to Marble Lifecycle
One day while I was studying geology I was tired of trying to learn all those boring facts, so I went on a walk to the old neighborhood quarry. It was a marble quarry. I carefully climbed down the side and in the center there was a huge boulder. I was so tired of attempting to memorize facts that I said to myself out loud while climbing the boulder, "I wish that there was an easier way to learn about metamorphic rocks!". I was on top of the boulder when I heard a deep and grainy voice say, "I could help you with that". I was so shocked that I almost fell off the boulder, but maintained my balance just in time to catch myself. "I am going to tell you a story, if you would like to listen quietly".
"I want to tell you about my lifecycle. It began about a 1000 yrs. ago. Back then I was a simple rock living life with no worries, I’m ashamed of it, but yes I was a very lazy piece of limestone. I was watching the geese flying south for the winter when I noticed I was slowly getting hot and there was a lot of pressure pushing all around me. It was very ticklish sometimes and at other times it was annoying. I got hotter and hotter and the pressure was got more intense as time went on. Over the next several hundred years, it got to where I was no longer able to watch the geese and it was getting darker and darker. That is when I realized I was slowly being pushed down towards 'the beyond'. This is what we rocks call the middle of the earth.
The further I went the hotter it got, until one day I met a weird and lovely substance, it was the brightest stuff, a beautiful rich yellow. I felt inside a certain familiarity that I knew this substance even though I didn’t recognize it. It talked to me in a rich ringing voice and called itself Magma. Turns out Magma is the mother or creator of all rocks. Even ME! I learned a lot during those years, and I even learned to like the heat and pressure.
Then Magma told me that my stay was over and it was time to start my journey back to the surface. I was kind of happy to go, I missed seeing the stars and the birds. As I was getting ready to leave, Magma kissed me goodbye and told me not to worry. She warned that I would have to go through another long process on this journey, but one day I would return to her again. As I slowly journeyed to the surface, which took a long long time, I felt very different, like I had changed somehow. It wasn't until I got to the surface that I realized when Magma has kissed me goodbye, I had slowly transformed into marble."
After the story was over this beautiful marble boulder was silent. I sat and watched the sunset then I went home. I was really excited because now I knew the rock cycle for a metamorphic rock.
