2. Red Rocks was once part of the
ancestral rocky mountains. As this
great mountainous range was
weathered and eroded, sediments
were deposited in the valley below. It
is below the surface where Red
Rocks began to form (Stammer,
2012). http://en.wikiped
ia.org/wiki/Rocky
_Mountain_Natio
nal_Park
Then about 320 million years ago
during the Pennsylvanian Period,
the ancestral Rockies uplifted
again exposing Red Rocks.
4. Once exposed Red Rocks was
eroded and weathered due to the
natural elements like wind, rain,
and ice. This erosion smoothed
the rocks. A weathering agent
that has helped shape Red
Rocks is called frost wedging
(Hess, 2011). This means water
falls into exposed cracks and
freezes pushing the rocks apart
further. Eventually this causes
rock portions to fall off.
http://geophys
ics.ou.edu/geol
1114/notes/w
eathering/wx_
soil.html
http://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/fb/e-
learning/geolearning/en/mountain_building
/weathering/Erosion3/index.html
5. Believe it or not the
http://www.geocachin
ancestral Rocky Mountains g.com/seek/cache_det
used to be a glacial ails.aspx?guid=07eac1
b3-64e4-474c-ae0c-
mountain. The glacial ice e4e64a814695
moved slowly downhill
picking up rocks and debris
which was drug along the Glacial Plucking: The action in which rock
bottom of the glacier debris beneath the ice is attached to the ice
eroding the underlying rock sheet by the freezing of melted water and
then pulled from the ground (Hess, 2011).
further. Over time this
process of abrasion and
plucking eroded what is
called a U-valley (Diop,
2011).
http://geotripper.blogspot.com/2011/10/vagabonding-
across-39th-parallel-in.html
6.
7. It is in this U-valley that the magnificent landform was exposed. These
sediments were built up, compressed and then uplifted to create Red
Rocks (Stammer, 2012).
http://redrocksonline.com/Contact.aspx
8. One of Red Rocks
uses is for a
beautiful setting
for a wedding.
http://afirstclasswedding.com/mountain-weddings/
Another use
is movie night.
They play old
and new
movies during
the Colorado http://www.denver.org/what-to-do/museum-art/denver-outdoor-
summer. summer-movies
10. Overall… Red Rocks is a
beautiful
natural
landform that
has some cool
geological
history and is
now enjoyed by
thousands. If you
have not been
there it is a trip
http://blog.ricksteves.com/?p=7074
worth taking!
