Cascade near Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)
The Making of America's Mountain
Photographed by Charles T. Harrell, July 1, 2011
1. The Making of America's Mountain Marker
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The Making of America's Mountain. . The granite that make up Pikes Peak was once molten (or liquid) rock. It slowly cooled and hardened miles beneath the earths surface, giving the crystals time to grow. Over the last 500 million years several tectonic plates (the earths outer layers) have collided and pushed the now-cool granite lying below the surface upward. Around 65 million years ago a tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean was driving into the North American continent. This movement initiated tremendous, mountain-building pressure below what is now Colorado and created Pikes Peak. From two million to 10,000 years ago a series of Ice Age climates gripped the land. Alpine glaciers formed on Pikes Peak. These rivers of ice gouged bowl0like hollows and U-shaped valleys. Since then, erosion has continued to sculpt the rugged mountain., (Inset) Look at a piece of Pikes Peak Granite. You are seeing a rock thats over a billion years old! Can you see white or clear quartz, pink feldspar and dark, shiny flakes o mica? These large crystals five us clues to the rocks origin.
The granite that make up Pikes Peak was once molten (or liquid) rock. It slowly cooled and hardened miles beneath the earths surface, giving the crystals time to grow. Over the last 500 million years several tectonic plates (the earths outer layers) have collided and pushed the now-cool granite lying below the surface upward. Around 65 million years ago a tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean was driving into the North American continent. This movement initiated tremendous, mountain-building pressure below what is now Colorado and created Pikes Peak.
From two million to 10,000 years ago a series of Ice Age climates gripped the land. Alpine glaciers formed on Pikes Peak. These rivers of ice gouged bowl0like hollows and U-shaped valleys. Since then, erosion has continued to sculpt the rugged mountain.
(Inset) Look at a piece of Pikes Peak Granite. You are seeing a rock thats over a billion years old! Can you see white or clear quartz, pink feldspar and dark, shiny flakes o mica? These large crystals five us clues to the rocks origin.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Environment.
Location. 38° 55.301′ N, 105° 1.549′ W. Marker is near Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County. It is in Cascade. It is on Pike's
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Peak Toll Road. The marker is found at the Crystal Reservoir Visitor Center. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Cascade CO 80809, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Colorado’s Front Range and in Pikes Peak Region. It is also in the American Mountain West. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Comancherνa.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 25, 2024. It was originally submitted on August 10, 2011, by Charles T. Harrell of Woodford, Virginia. This page has been viewed 834 times since then and 7 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on August 10, 2011, by Charles T. Harrell of Woodford, Virginia. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
