Pikes Peak
My friends and I visited Pikes Peak. While we were there, we learned a lot Colorado’s largest single body of granite. Although granite is a very common igneous rock, Pikes Peak granite is the only rock in Colorado that’s over 1.08 billion years old! Can you believe that? The formation of Pikes Peak was created by the Laramide Orogeny, a period of mountain forming in the Western U.S. The granite mountain was molded through the years of erosion of molten rock BUT is not considered a volcano. Then, around 60 million years ago, parts of the U.S. were imperiled to a sequence of uplifts that shaped the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak to its current height. Today, Pikes Peak is STILL being elevated due to the larger tectonic processes that are affecting the Western U.S.
Granite is a light brown colored igneous rock with large black spots that are visible all around it. The rock was formed from slow crystallization of magma below Earth’s surface and is primarily collected of quartz, feldspar, and small amounts of mica. The rock has a coarse-grained texture which is due to the individual minerals that are visible. When the sun hits the rock, it sparkles as if there are a million diamonds settling on the rock. My friend explained to me that as the magma cooled, the various minerals are combined to create a “crystal appearance.” Without that sparkle, the rock looks rather dull! However, they add to the beauty around the green trees and blue skies of Colorado.
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