Castle Rock (Kansas)
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Castle Rock (Kansas)
Castle Rock is a tall chalk pillar landmark in Gove County, Kansas, United States. The formation and the nearby badlands are located in the Smoky Hills region of Kansas, which is approximately south of I-70 near Quinter, Kansas. Description Castle Rock was a landmark on the Butterfield Overland Despatch route (Overland Trail). The chalk was deposited in the area by an ancient inland sea. The formation was carved by the weathering of the chalk by wind and water. It received its name because it is said to look like a castle rising above the prairie. Weathering of the rock formation is increasing due to visitors climbing on the rocks. In 2001, following a thunderstorm, the tallest spire fell. On January 29, 2008, Castle Rock and Monument Rocks 31 miles to the west were jointly named as one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas. Images File:Castle Rock, Kansas, on the Smoky Hill, 385 miles west of Missouri River. (Boston Public Library).jpg, Castle Rock, 1867 File:108_Castle Rock,_K ...
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Rock Pinnacle
A pinnacle, tower, spire, needle or natural tower (german: Felsnadel, ''Felsturm'' or ''Felszinne'') in geology is an individual column of rock, isolated from other rocks or groups of rocks, in the shape of a vertical shaft or spire. Examples are the summits of the Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif in France, the almost 43-metre-high Barbarine on the south side of the Pfaffenstein hill near Königstein in Germany, or the Bischofsmütze, the Drei Zinnen and the Vajolet Towers in the Dolomites, which are rich in such towers. An area of limestone formations within Nambung National Park, near the town of Cervantes, Western Australia, is known as The Pinnacles. File:Cerro Torre.jpg, Cerro Torre 3,133 m (south flank ~2,150 m), Patagonia, Argentina/Chile File:Barbarine001.jpg, The Barbarine (43 m high), Saxon Switzerland, Germany File:Vajolett-Tuerme.jpg, The Vajolet Towers 2,790 m (main tower 120 m high), South Tyrol, Italy File:TH Phang Nga - Jame ...
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Smoky Hill Chalk
The Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk formation is a Cretaceous conservation Lagerstätte, or fossil rich geological formation, known primarily for its exceptionally well-preserved marine reptiles. Named for the Smoky Hill River, the Smoky Hill Chalk Member is the uppermost of the two structural units of the Niobrara Chalk. It is underlain by the Fort Hays Limestone Member; and the Pierre Shale overlies the Smoky Hill Chalk. The Smoky Hill Chalk outcrops in parts of northwest Kansas, its most famous localities for fossils, and in southeastern Nebraska. Large well-known fossils excavated from the Smoky Hill Chalk include marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, large bony fish such as ''Xiphactinus'', mosasaurs, flying reptiles or pterosaurs (namely ''Pteranodon''), flightless marine birds such as ''Hesperornis'', and turtles. Many of the most well-known specimens of the marine reptiles were collected by dinosaur hunter Charles H. Sternberg and his son George. The son ...
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Rock Formations Of Kansas
Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales * Rock, Cornwall, a village in England * Rock, County Tyrone, a village in Northern Ireland * Rock, Devon, a location in England * Rock, Neath Port Talbot, a location in Wales * Rock, Northumberland, a village in England * Rock, Somerset, a location in Wales * Rock, West Sussex, a hamlet in Washington, England * Rock, Worcestershire, a village and civil parish in England United States * Rock, Kansas, an unincorporated community * Rock, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Rock, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Rock, Rock County, Wisconsin, a town in southern Wisconsin * Rock, Wood County, Wisconsin, a town in central Wisconsin Elsewhere * Corregidor, an island in the Philippines also known as "The Rock" * Jamaica, an isla ...
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Rock City, Kansas
Rock City is a park located on hillsides overlooking the Solomon River in Ottawa County, Kansas. It is 3.6 miles south of Minneapolis, Kansas and just over 0.5 mile west of Kansas highway K-106 and the Minneapolis City County Airport on Ivy Road. In a patch of prairie about long and wide, Rock City contains three clusters of large spherical boulders. These three clusters contain a total of 200 spherical boulders. It has been designated as a National Natural Landmark. The park, owned by a non-profit corporation, has a visitor center and picnic tables. A small admission fee, which is used to maintain this park, is charged. The remarkable size and spherical shape of these rock formation was first noted by Bell.Bell, W.T., 1901, ''The remarkable concretions of Ottawa County, Kansas'', American Journal of Science, 4th Series, v. 11, p. 315-316. Later, these boulders were either noted or described by Gould,Gould, C.N., 1901, ''The Dakota Cretaceous of Kansas and Nebraska'', Kansas Aca ...
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Mushroom Rock State Park
Mushroom Rock State Park is noted for its mushroom rock formations. It is located in the Smoky Hills region of north-central Kansas in Ellsworth County, Kansas, United States. These rocks are the remains of beach sands and sediments of the Cretaceous Period, the interval of geologic time from about 144 to 66 million years ago. Sandstone and sedimentary rock is held together by natural cement. The concretions that make up Mushroom Rocks are cemented calcium carbonate. The largest rock measures 27 feet in diameter. There are two mushrooms and a giant shoe rock, as well as numerous other rock formations in the park. Mushroom Rock is Kansas's smallest state park. As well as being "one of the 8 wonders of Kansas Geography." Mushroom Rock State Park is managed by Kanopolis State Park, under regulation of Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. The rock used to serve as meeting places for pioneers and Native Americans. Gallery File:Mushroom Rock Kansas 1916.jpg, Rock f ...
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Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park
Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park is a state park in Logan County, Kansas, United States. It is owned by The Nature Conservancy and located about south of Oakley and a similar distance north of Scott City. The park features of Smoky Hill Chalk badlands with many narrow canyons in white rock likened to the walls and narrow winding streets of ancient Jerusalem. Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park is open year-round during daylight hours only. Visitors are not allowed off-trail unless accompanied by park staff on a guided tour. See also Nearby Smoky Hill Chalk natural monuments: *Castle Rock (Kansas) *Monument Rocks (Kansas) Monument Rocks (also Chalk Pyramids) are a series of large chalk formations in Gove County, Kansas, rich in fossils. The formations were the first landmark in Kansas chosen by the US Department of the Interior as a National Natural Landmark. The ... References State parks of Kansas {{Kansas-geo-stub ...
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Big Basin Prairie Preserve
The Big Basin Prairie Preserve is a nature preserve owned and managed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. The preserve is in the Red Hills near Ashland in Clark County, Kansas. The main features are St. Jacob's Well, a water-filled sinkhole which lies in the Little Basin, and the Big Basin, a lush mile-wide crater-like depression, also resulting from a sinkhole. The area is stocked with buffalo and is open to the public. The Big Basin is transected by U.S. Route 283 and U.S. Route 160 which run together for a short ways. The portion of the basin west of the highway is privately owned. The property was acquired in 1974 from The Nature Conservancy which made operation as a nature preserve a condition of the sale. In December 1978, the preserve was designated as a National Natural Landmark and was added to the National Registry of Natural Landmarks. Elevations on the preserve range from to above sea level. History The area was one of the locations where the Northe ...
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Monument Rocks (Kansas)
Monument Rocks (also Chalk Pyramids) are a series of large chalk formations in Gove County, Kansas, rich in fossils. The formations were the first landmark in Kansas chosen by the US Department of the Interior as a National Natural Landmark. The chalk formations reach a height of up to and include formations such as buttes and arches. The carbonate deposits were laid down during the Cretaceous Period in what was then the Western Interior Seaway, which split the continent of North America into two landmasses. They are estimated to have been formed 80 million years ago. History On January 29, 2008, Monument Rocks, 25 miles south of Oakley, Kansas, and Castle Rock, 31 miles to the east, were jointly named as one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas.http://www.nps.gov/tapr/learn/news/upload/8wndrsAnncmntNEWSRELEASE.pdf Gallery File:A328, Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark, Gove County, Kansas, 2011.JPG, Wide view of largest formation and arch File:MonumentRock.JPG, Southernmost rock ...
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Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, the North American Inland Sea, and the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea that split the continent of North America into two landmasses. The ancient sea, which existed from the early Late Cretaceous (100 million years ago) to the earliest Paleocene (66 Ma), connected the Gulf of Mexico, through the United States and Canada, to the Arctic Ocean. The two land masses it created were Laramidia to the west and Appalachia to the east. At its largest extent, it was deep, wide and over long. Origin and geology By Late-Cretaceous times, Eurasia and the Americas had separated along the south Atlantic, and subduction on the west coast of the Americas had commenced, resulting in the Laramide orogeny, the early phase of growth of the modern Rocky Mountains. The Western Interior Seaway may be seen as a downwarping of the continental crust ahead of the growing Laramide/Rockies mountain chain. Th ...
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Overland Trail
The Overland Trail (also known as the Overland Stage Line) was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American West during the 19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most heavily used in the 1860s as a route alternative to the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails through central Wyoming. The Overland Trail was famously used by the Overland Stage Company owned by Ben Holladay to run mail and passengers to Salt Lake City, Utah, via stagecoaches in the early 1860s. Starting from Atchison, Kansas, the trail descended into Colorado before looping back up to southern Wyoming and rejoining the Oregon Trail at Fort Bridger. The stage line operated until 1869 when the completion of the First transcontinental railroad eliminated the need for mail service via stagecoach. History In 1850, U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers Captain Howard Stansbury's expedition was returning east. At Fort Bridg ...
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Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin ''creta'', "chalk", which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation ''Kreide''. The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now- extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was ice free, and forests extended to the poles. During this time, new groups of mammals and birds appeared. During the Early Cretaceous, flowering plants appeared and began to rapidly diversify, becoming the dominant group of plants across the Earth b ...
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Butterfield Overland Despatch
{{distinguish, text = the Butterfield Overland Mail, an unaffiliated company with a similar name The Butterfield Overland Despatch was a mail and freight service operating across the Great Plains of America in the 1860s. Due to increased travel to Colorado after the discovery of gold in 1858. David A. Butterfield, backed by New York capital, organized a joint-stock express and passenger carrying service between the Missouri River and Denver. In July 1865, the route via the Smoky Hill River was surveyed and soon thereafter coaches were in operation. Ben Holladay, acting for a competing organization, bought the Butterfield Overland Despatch in March 1866, when Eastern express companies threatened to take it over and establish a service between the Missouri River and Sacramento, California. See also * Pond Creek Station, a preserved station of the company, built in 1865, near Wallace, Kansas Wallace is a city in Wallace County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, t ...
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