Many places, including the Grand Canyon, were created by various physical and chemical processes that continue to shape Earth, such as the water and rock cycles. How does the water cycle influence the rock cycle within a region like the Grand Canyon?

Water erosion is a continous process and it goes on in the Grand Canyon. The river has been shaping and influencing the canyon for millions of years. The river's flow slowly makes the canyon deeper and wider. Due to the fact that the soil in the Grand Canyon is baked by the sun it gets very hard and can't absorb water when the rains come. When it rains the water tends to come down in torrents. Plants growing in the Grand Canyon usually have very shallow root systems so that they can grab as much water as possible on those few occasions. Unfortunately the system of vegetal roots does nothing to deter erosion by holding the soil in place. So, water runs down to the Colorado River, and there's nothing holding the soil and rock in place.

The rock cycle consists of a series of constant processes through which Earth materials change from one form to another over time. As within the water cycle and the carbon cycle, some processes in the rock cycle occur over millions of years and others occur much more rapidly. There is no real beginning or end to the rock cycle, but it is convenient to begin exploring it with magma.

When magma is allowed to cool, it crystallizes, much the same way that ice crystals develop when water is cooled. We see this process occurring in places like the grand crayon, where magma erupts out of a volcano and cools on the surface of the Earth, forming a rock called basalt on the flanks of the volcano