Mountains of Colorado
The geology in the state of Colorado runs deep in history that can be seen in its formations, strata and minerals. Basement rock through current day sediments can be seen with the naked eye.
Geomorphic Areas
Colorado has three geomorphic areas: the Rocky Mountains in the center, the Tablelands to the west and the High Plains to the east.
Earth Declination Processes
During the Precambrian period, the basement rock was laid. Over the next few million years, rifting, intrusions and extrusions occurred. Oceans formed and vanished, leaving sediment behind.
Evolution
Precambrian geology later folded into the Ancestral Rockies and can be seen largely in the formation of the Rockies and Tablelands. Ancient streams formed deep and narrow canyons, such as Glenwood Canyon and Royal Gorge. Magma formed what is now found in the Colorado Mineral Belt and Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.
Material Origins
Ancient oceans provided quartzite rose, marble, limestone, claystone and sandstone located throughout the Rockies. Granites are around 1 million years old.
Sedimintary Rocks
The Denver and Maroon basins hold sands, mudstones and conglomerates from the Pennsylvanian and Permian eras.
Time Frame
A sampling of Colorado's geology.
First came the Cenozoic era, with ice ages, rifting, caves, volcanoes and erosion. In the Mesozoic era, shorelines formed along with swamps, mudflats and plains. The Paleozoic era followed, with the formation of seas, dunes and then mass extinction. The final era was Precambrian with two eons: Proterozoic, in which rifting and metamorphosis occurred, and then the Archean, with granites forming and folding occurring.
Tags: Colorado geology, million years
