Project Goals and Products
The Red Beds Trail will be developed into an interpretive tour
guide, partially based on the published geologic map of the Monument,
with wayside displays describing the sedimentary geology and the
relationship to the origins of the Tower. The present descriptions
of the sedimentary rocks within the Monument as displayed on the
published map are inadequate and
require
reevaluation. The geologic map will be revised and, where necessary,
the six rock units will be correctly identified, described, and
the nature of their formation (the types of sediment and location
of accumulation) explained and discussed. The concept of geologic
time and the processes of erosion will be discussed and focused
upon in relation to the rocks being highlighted. Drainage modification,
mostly the result of glacial effects, as exemplified by the Belle
Fourche-Cheyenne-Missouri River complex, will also be developed
as part of the interpretive program. |
Devils Tower:
Although Devils Tower has long been a prominent landmark in northeastern
Wyoming, the origin of the mammoth rock obelisk remains somewhat
obscure. Geologists agree that Devils Tower formed from molten
rock forced upwards from deep within the earth. Debate continues,
however,
as to whether the rock cooled underground or whether Devils Tower
magma reached the surface. Current research supports the conclusion
that Devils Tower was not a volcano, but was injected between sedimentary
rock layers and cooled underground (as a laccolith). The characteristic
furrowed
columns are the result of contraction which occurred during the
cooling of the magma. Geologic estimates have placed the age of
Devils Tower at greater than 50 million years, although it is likely
that erosion uncovered the rock formations only one or two million
years ago. |
|
U.S.
Department of the Interior, U.S.
Geological Survey