In the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore, a large granite peak was dedicated in 1925 to be sculpted into a monument. That monument today is one of the most visited monuments in the United States. Mount Rushmore is a staple of the United States. On it, it has the faces of four of the most important Presidents of the United States. According to the Sculptor Gutzon Borglum “The purpose of the memorial is to communicate the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States with colossal statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.” Mount Rushmore is a sight to behold, but how was the formation formed? What geological processes happened over time to form the peak of Mount Rushmore
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The processes that formed the area are amazing to think about how a once ancient sea bed became one of the nation’s top tourist spots. The inland sea that left a deposit after deposit of sandstone and shale. Then an intrusive magma that made its way through the crust, only to cool and become granite and pegmatites. This magma changed the existing rocks making schists and quartzite. After the inland sea receded erosion dominated the area eroding many layers of rock that had been deposited. A massive uplift rose these rocks to 15,000 feet. The erosion process eventually got rid of the sedimentary layers, exposing the granites and metamorphic knobs that we see today. Imagine if one of these processes did not take place. Would there even be Mount Rushmore let alone the Black Hills? Each of these processes are equally important to why there is a Mount Rushmore. The clues left by these processes allows to see how great the Earth is, and how over millions of years a once flat lying land can become a sculpture that Americans can cherish. The granite that was produced over time allowed Gutzon Borglum to determine a place where he could sculpt a memorial dedicated to the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States. Mount Rushmore is something America will be able to admire for centuries, as Borglum
The processes that formed the area are amazing to think about how a once ancient sea bed became one of the nation’s top tourist spots. The inland sea that left a deposit after deposit of sandstone and shale. Then an intrusive magma that made its way through the crust, only to cool and become granite and pegmatites. This magma changed the existing rocks making schists and quartzite. After the inland sea receded erosion dominated the area eroding many layers of rock that had been deposited. A massive uplift rose these rocks to 15,000 feet. The erosion process eventually got rid of the sedimentary layers, exposing the granites and metamorphic knobs that we see today. Imagine if one of these processes did not take place. Would there even be Mount Rushmore let alone the Black Hills? Each of these processes are equally important to why there is a Mount Rushmore. The clues left by these processes allows to see how great the Earth is, and how over millions of years a once flat lying land can become a sculpture that Americans can cherish. The granite that was produced over time allowed Gutzon Borglum to determine a place where he could sculpt a memorial dedicated to the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States. Mount Rushmore is something America will be able to admire for centuries, as Borglum