Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: William J. Toman
Taken: August 12, 2010
Caption: Related Marker on Tower Trail at Devils Tower
Additional Description:
Buried Tower

Ancient rivers took millions of years to excavate Devils Tower. The waters carried away softer sedimentary rocks leaving behind the harder igneous rock called phonolite. This rock type is found here in northeastern Wyoming, and central Montana, but mostly in east Africa.

The Tower is still emerging. The Belle Fourche River (below) continues to wash away the softer sedimentary rocks. Plateaus across the valley--some higher than the Tower's summit--are eroded layers of the same sediment that once surrounded and covered Devils Tower.

The Tower today stands 867 feed (264 meters) high, from the visitor center to the summit. Approximately one and one-half vertical miles of rock and sediment have washed away since the Tower formed.

Lower photo caption: Photograph of modern river channel, with sedimentary rocks in background.

Right photo caption: Layers of sedimentary rock are exposed on a cliff near the Tower.

Layers in right photo from top to bottom:
Sundance Formation (Hulett Sandstone and Stockade Beaver Shale)
Gypsum Springs Formation
Spearfish Formation
Submitted: August 15, 2010, by William J. Toman of Green Lake, Wisconsin.
Database Locator Identification Number: p122786
File Size: 3.629 Megabytes

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