Monument Rocks Natural Landmark
In Gove County, Kansas, a group of sizable chalk formations known as Monument Rocks (sometimes known as Chalk Pyramids) are teeming with fossils. The US Department of the Interior designated the formations as Kansas's first National Natural Landmark. The buttes, arches, and other forms found in the chalk formations may reach heights of up to 70 feet (21 meters).
The Western Interior Seaway, which at the time divided North America's continent into two landmasses, was the location of the carbonate deposits that were formed during the Cretaceous Period. It is thought that they developed 80 million years ago. Over millions of years, the silt piled to a height of several hundred feet at a rate of around 0.036 mm, or 0.0014 inches, every year.
Later, it was crushed into rock and buried beneath newer sediment layers until being finally revealed at the surface by erosion. The thick chalk beds began to thin as a result of more erosion. However, the Monument Rocks remains were saved because the harder beds on top, which had likely been bonded by a dissolved mineral "glue," protected the softer strata below.
Google rating: 4.8/5.0
Location: Scott City, Kansas 67871, US
Phone: +1 785-458-9352
Website: http://www.kansastravel.org/monumentrocks.htm
