A sequence of events involving the formation, alteration, destruction, and reformation of rocks as a result of such processes as magmatism, erosion, transportation, deposition, lithification, and metamorphism. A possible sequence involves the crystallization of magma to form igneous rocks that are then broken down to sediment as a result of weathering, the sediments later being lithified to form sedimentary rocks, which in turn are altered to metamorphic rocks.