By: Matthew Marble (Matthew)

Hi, I’m Matthew Marble. I’m a metamorphic rock. People call me Marble for short. Believe it or not, I wasn’t always marble. In fact, I was born as lava. After that I went through many changes. I became igneous rock, changed into sediment which then became limestone, and I’m metamorphic rock now. I don’t have very long before it happens again. I feel smooth. I look white. I’m usually happy, but I can get mad and sad easily.

I first started out as lava, which became boring and it was warm. I felt annoyed, and then when the volcano erupted and I cooled I became igneous rock. That was okay, but I felt lonely. I was alarmed when I started breaking into little pieces, but was happy when I became sedimentary. I felt very uncomfortable when I became metamorphic rock. It was warm and I got smashed together which really hurt my back.

Ouch! Something just happened! I’m beginning to melt! I feel warm again, and I’m a liquid. Hey, scoot over. I guess I’m lava again. I think I could take a nap. Wait, I’m beginning to shake. Hey you, what’s happening? Were going to be erupted. I tried to hold onto something but was swept away in an instant. The million years, I woke up only to realize I was a new rock.

I ’m now an igneous rock again, and I’m basalt. I live by a volcano. I feel kind of rough, and I’m pretty sure I don’t taste that great. Sometimes I smell sulpher. Every once and a while lava will splash on me.

I’m starting to change again. Every time I become a new rock, or sediment, and even lava, I’ve noticed it takes about a million years to change. Ouch! I’m being broken down into little pieces! Look. There’s a piece of me there. Oh, look over there, there’s other pieces of me. I’m being blown into the ocean. More pieces of rock are piling on top of me, and they aren’t that light. Ouch! I’m being smashed down! Help!

After a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time I’m a rock again. I’m a sedimentary rock. I appear to be limestone. Yeah, that’s right. I am limestone. Limestone turns into marble. Right now I live at the bottom of the ocean. It’s pretty cool down here. It’s wet but definitely not lonely down here. Every few hours a fish of some kind will bump against me. It’s pretty annoying. I don’t get that bored down here. There’s usually a lot of stuff to do.

Every couple of years I’ve moved deeper under ground. I get very warm down here, and the pressure smashes me down. I’m beginning to change a lot every thousand years. I’m beginning to get push me upwards. Am I a rock again? Wait. Okay, I’m a rock.

Once again I’m marble. It feels good to be this way again. A few million years ago I was sedimentary rock, and now I’m metamorphic rock. It’s funny how that works huh. Once again I’m smooth and white.

Oh no, I was just beginning to feel comfortable. Now I’m lava in a volcano. Ouch, it’s really hot. It’s starting to rumble. I’ll burst out, harden and become Igneous again. Trust me, I have the whole procedure down. Here we go.

I’m igneous again, and I’m living right by the sea! I’ve made a friend. His name is Jon obsidian. I feel happy to have a friend now. He’s a little older than me, so he’s going to go through the rock cycle again before me. But I know it’s going to happen again, so I’m going to enjoy being a solid while I still am.