How Did the Tower Form?

How Did the Tower Form? (HM1DLZ)

Location: Devils Tower, WY 82714 Crook County
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Country: United States of America
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N 44° 35.393', W 104° 43.071'

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Inscription

Devils Tower National Monument

The process began about 50 million years ago. Magma (molten rock) was injected into layers of sedimentary rock, forming the Tower one and one-half miles below the earth's surface. It has since taken millions of years to erode away the surrounding sedimentary rock to expose the Tower we see today.

Geologists agree the Tower is an igneous (hardened magma) intrusion, but have three different interpretations of the Tower's original size and shape. Because of erosion, we may never know which interpretation is correct.

Three Possible Interpretations

Igneous Stock:
The Tower is an irregularly shaped, igneous intrusion called a stock. It was formed when magma cooled and crystallized before reaching the earth's surface.

Laccolith:
The Tower is the remnant of a mushroom-shaped, igneous intrusion. As with the igneous stock, the magma solidified before reaching the earth's surface.

Volcanic Plug:
The Tower is a cylinder-shaped igneous intrusion, part of the plumbing system that fed a volcano. The pipe feeding the volcano became plugged when the magma solidified underground.
Details
HM NumberHM1DLZ
Tags
Placed ByNational Park Service
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, September 6th, 2014 at 5:33am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)13T E 522395 N 4937431
Decimal Degrees44.58988333, -104.71785000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 44° 35.393', W 104° 43.071'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds44° 35' 23.58" N, 104° 43' 4.26" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)307
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 360-398 Co Rd 174, Devils Tower WY 82714, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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