Pikes Peak

It's easy to find igneous rocks in Colorado, just head up to Pikes Peak!
The Pikes Peak Batholith is a massive granite intrusion that is over a billion years old.

The granite you see all around Pikes Peak is a form of igneous rock, which formed from magma which rose and was injected into the earths crust, cooling slowly to form the beautiful landscape which has weathered and risen further over time. The fact that this magma cooled underground is what differentiates it and classifies it as plutonic rather than volcanic. Furthermore, the magma which formed the batholith cooled many kilometers under the Earth's surface, allowing large crystals to form.

Pikes Peak itself is only the tip of the batholith- the granite intrusion extends 50 miles to the Southeast. It is believed to have formed by the pressure created when the Texas and Northern Mexican region collided with the North American continent, a geological event known as the Grenville Orogeny.

It is very interesting to not only witness the beauty of Colorado all around us, but to also understand how it got there.