The Rock Cycle for Dummy Fifth Graders

The rock cycle

In olden days, when a middle-schooler was doing research for that first term paper, the school library and the family set of encyclopedias got a workout. That's not the case anymore, not in the age of the internet. The problem, of course is that way back when; you could pretty much count on the source material having been written by someone who (to put it bluntly) knew the difference between his ass and a hole in the ground (and was fact-checked by an editor). In the age of the internet, however, that's no longer the case: instead, it's written by freelance writers at content farms and toiling away on their blogs, unedited and often bereft of facts. Take, for instance, Bailey Shoemaker Richards and the suite.io post she titled "What is the Rock Cycle?"¹

Bailey appears to have leveraged her creative writing BA for the post. Unfortunately, when you're writing content that's supposed to be factual, you have to be careful with that creativity – which Bailey wasn't. Want some examples? here:

• "The rock cycle is a basic geological function that creates the three main types of rocks..." Ummm, no: the rock cycle isn't a "geological function," it's a conceptual model.

"...the [rock] cycle... shapes and determines numerous aspects of rock formations and locations..." Once again, the rock cycle is a conceptual model of geological processes; not a process itself.  "Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic... rocks... come in almost innumerable shapes and colors..." It's pretty clear Bailey's conflating rock types with... well, with actual rocks - like you'd find in a wall or a... box of rocks.  "Islands... tend to have more igneous rock formations if they were created volcanically..."  We think that's a classic example of circularity. Anything "created volcanically" would have lots of igneous rocks... "Sedimentary rocks are formed by pressure; as eroded igneous rocks, silt and other types of sediment pile up in a particular area, the weight causes the materials to form rock." Even the most cursory examination of a cartoon depicting the rock cycle would suggest that sedimentary rocks can form from any rock types, not just "eroded igneous rocks."

• "Metamorphic rock is found in the form of marble, slate and other types of hard rocks." Well, that's just special. Wonder what those "hard rocks" are? and are all "hard rocks" metamorphic? Creative, Bailey, creative...
• "A thorough study of geology, carbon dating, fossil hunting or even rock climbing must begin with an understanding of the types of rocks that exist and how they came to be." Why carbon dating? few rocks contain any organic carbon, and those that are older than about 50,000 years can't be dated with carbon, anyway.

Sheesh. If you're gonna try to educate people (let's be honest – Shoemaker Richards' only real purpose here was to make a few bucks back when Suite101 writers were still raking it in -- if they ever did), at least get it right. Otherwise, you're a prime candidate for the Antisocial Network's Dumbass of the Day award. Dumbass.

¹ This website is now defunct, and the post was not archived at archive.org. Oh, well, no loss...   

copyright © 2015-2021 scmrak

SI - GEOLOGY