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Contents of 3.4 How are the rock classes related to one another?

• The rock cycle links the three rock types through a series of processes that convert the materials in one class of rocks into new rocks of the same or different class. Despite these changes, the chemical composition of Earth remains essentially constant.
• Rock-forming processes and their relationships among rock classes are related to processes at plate boundaries. Plate tectonics is, therefore, a large-scale driving force in the rock cycle.