Earth > If Rocks Could Talk > Granite

Granite: Yo, Rondi. You want me to tell the story?

Granite: I'll start from the beginning. About two billion years ago, I formed from melted rock, or magma.

Granite: Hey, know a lot ... for a human. Now, I may be an  igneous rock , but I didn't erupt at the Earth's surface. I was formed about eight kilometers (5 miles) underground in a pocket of magma. Over thousands of years, the magma cooled into a solid. In fact, I cooled so slowly that I had time to grow these large crystals.

Granite: Thanks! As I was saying ... Over millions of years, the rocks above me wore away from wind, water, and the slow movement of Earth's crust. After a while, I finally came to the surface. Then, many thousands of years ago, I was picked up by a giant glacier moving across the land.

Granite: You betcha! Earth's climate was much cooler then.  And enormous ice caps stretched far from the North and South poles.  

Granite: When the glacier finally started to melt, it dropped me and I sunk to the deep-sea floor. You know, it's pretty cold and dark down there. But it's not like I was scared or anything...

Granite: It wasn't easy. I was tumbled around a lot against ice and other rocks. Actually, all that grinding made me round. I tell ya, a lot of rocks wouldn't have made it that far. They would've crumbled from the wear and tear.

Granite: I don't mind at all. It took me years to build it up.

Granite: It's a layer of manganese I got from being on the ocean floor all that time. It comes from underwater volcanoes.

Granite: Scientists on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean were collecting rock samples from the ocean floor . They were surprised to see a piece of rounded granite that far from land. After all that time in the ocean, I'm glad to be back on land. I feel like I'm finally home.

Granite: Aw, shucks, Rondi. Just keep it under your hat.