Pikes Peak Colorado

By: Liz Morgan

http://www.visitcos.com/sites/default/files/images/PikesPeakRampartRoad.jpg

Elevation: 14, 115 feet Located 10 miles (16 km) west of the city of

Colorado Springs Pikes Peak is the easternmost fourteen thousand

foot peak in the United States Most visited mountain in North America 2nd most visited mountain in the world In 1859, a gold rush occurred at Pikes Peak, “Pikes Peak or Bust”

Facts About Pikes Peak

http://www.colorado-springs-vacation.com/images/cascade-colorado-pikes-peak-or-bust.jpg

http://www.pikespeaktv.com/Pikes%20Peak%20For%20Web%20Big.jpg

http://www.mycoloradolife.com/Pictures/Miscellaneous/Pikes-Peak/Pikes-Peaks-Highway-Lights.jpg

Nearly 1.05 billion years ago, during the Precambrian period, hot magma pushed up from the Earth’s core and formed a batholith, or large intrusion of igneous rock.

This rock formation never made it to the Earth’s surface until the Earth’s crust went through the process of sea floor spreading at the mid-Atlantic Ridge.

After a period of time when the seawater and additional sedimentary rock covered the area, another up thrust of the Earth’s surface occurred. This process, an orogenic uplift (tectonic plate collisions), caused hardened rock from beneath Earth’s crust to elevate, creating a dome-like mountain.

Formation of Pikes Peak

http://www.travellogs.us/2006Logs/Colorado%202006/Pikes%20Peak%2028-06/pp_3418.jpg

http://www.abrighton.com/uploads/1/3/2/3/1323730/rock_cycle_drawing1.jpg

Mechanical weathering and erosion caused by glaciers and their runoff, or “frost wedging”, has helped to form many features of Pike Peak Mountain.

Water seeps into the micro fine joints and cracks, causing the alternation of freezing and thawing inside the rocks, splitting them apart.

Fluctuation in temperature changes causes expansion and contraction of the mineral particles found on the mountain, breaking the minerals apart.

Erosion has occurred from dirt trails and roads made to accompany off-road vehicle use, hiking, and biking.

Alteration of Pikes Peak by Erosional Processes

http://letslearngeology.com/website/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/frost-wedging-rock1.jpg

http://lilt.ilstu.edu/weshiel/Frost%20wedging.jpg

Animals such as squirrels, porcupines, beavers, skunks, rabbits, coyotes, foxes, elk, black bears and mountain lions play a factor in rock disintegration on Pikes Peak.

The penetrating growth of plants and their roots, such as tundra grasses, mosses, sedges, lichens, grass meadows, ponderosa pine, pinyon, juniper woodlands, Goldenrod, Larkspur and Sagebrush surround the rocks and large boulders, breaking them apart.

Biological Weathering

http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/students/pikespeak/project_files/image013.jpg

http://pikespeak.us.com/images/marmot_pp_9400.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GC-ssBUjTkc/TLm2Kl_QwuI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/Ei0K0HGR_NA/s1600/DSCN0269.jpg

http://catamountcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Field-Station-Location.jpg

http://www.ppcf.org/library/images/Pinello_Ranch/Bullocks_Oriole-Kevin-Cole.jpg

http://www.eastholme.com/images/a_cheyenne_mtn_zoo.jpg

About three million years ago, during the Pleistocene period, large glaciers formed during the ice age.

These glaciers reshaped the surface of Pikes Peak through the process of erosion, transportation, and deposition. Erosion: movement of the ice scraping against the

bedrock caused gouges in the rock of the mountain. Transportation: rock debris that was plucked from the

bedrock was frozen to the bottom of the glacier and transported with the movement of the glacier.

Deposition: When the glacier melted, the rock debris was deposited into a completely different region, reshaping the landscape.

http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/images/glaciation/arete.jpg

Glacial Modification of Pikes Peak

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Arranque_glaciar-en.svg/300px-Arranque_glaciar-en.svg.png

http://www.backpacker.com/media/originals/GlacierPeakWildernessSpiderMeadowtoSpiderGlacier61073.jpeg

http://www.pikes-peak.com/images/photo2.jpg

Result of Glacial Modification

Pikes Peak consists entirely of Pink Granite. The color is due to large amounts of

potassium feldspar found in the granite. Formed from magma that cooled and

crystallized at least 20 miles beneath Earth’s surface.

Composition of Pikes Peak

http://0.tqn.com/d/geology/1/0/p/A/1/pikespeakspar.jpg

http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/9/8/l981801155.jpg

Berry, Raymond R. "Goethite Inclusions in Quartz from the Pikes Peak Granite." Academic Search Premier 76, no. 4 (2001): Accessed March 15, 2013.

City of Colorado Springs - HOME. "City of Colorado Springs - History." Last modified 2012. http://www.springsgov.com/Page.aspx?NavID=86.

  Pikes Peak Colorado - The planet's most comprehensive source of information about

Pikes Peak - America's Mountain. "Geology of Pikes Peak." Last modified 2009. http://pikespeak.us.com/Learn/geology.html.

Hess, Darrel, and Tom L. McKnight. McKnight's Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation, 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011.

  Pikes Peak Colorado - The planet's most comprehensive source of information about

Pikes Peak - America's Mountain. "Life Zones on Pikes Peak." Last modified 2009. http://pikespeak.us.com/Learn/life-zones.html.

  "Pikes Peak Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." In Pikes Peak. 2013. Accessed

March 15, 2013. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikes_Peak.

Bibliography