Petrology is the branch of science concerned with the origin, structure, and composition of rocks, revealing the deep history of our planet. The Earth's crust is built upon three basic types of rocks: igneous rocks, which solidify from cooling magma or lava; sedimentary rocks, formed when layers of mud, sand, and pebbles are compressed over millennia; and metamorphic rocks, which are pre-existing rocks chemically and structurally transformed by intense heat and pressure deep underground.

Uncovers remarkable phenomena across the globe, from the geometrically perfect hexagonal columns of basalt at the Giant's Causeway, formed by the efficient cooling of volcanic lava, to the rare, flexible sandstone known as Itacolumite. Furthermore, rocks can exhibit unusual properties: certain dense, iron-rich igneous rocks in Pennsylvania can produce metallic musical tones when struck, while seemingly ordinary stones in Michigan, known as yooperlite, contain sodalite that glows bright orange under UV light through a process called fluorescence.

The study of rocks also allows scientists to look back through time. The oldest known formation, the Acasta Gneiss in northern Canada, has been dated to 4.03 billion years old using radiometric dating of trapped zircon crystals, surviving nearly the entire 4.5 billion-year history of Earth.

Not all rocks sink; the highly porous, foamy volcanic rock called pumice floats on water. The molten rock is rapidly cooled trapping gas bubbles inside. These air pockets make its overall density lower than that of water, so it can float.

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