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Geological Formation

Enchanted Rock

Inselbergs and Crystalline Monoliths

Enchanted Rock is a large pink granite dome in central Texas, part of the Llano Uplift and one of the largest granite domes in the United States. It formed from magma that intruded and crystallized underground roughly 1.1 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest exposed rock bodies in North America, and was later exposed at the surface as hundreds of millions of years of erosion stripped away the overlying rock. The dome shows pronounced exfoliation, in which curved sheets of granite peel away from the surface as pressure is released from rock that once lay deeply buried; this ongoing process continues to shape the dome and gives it its smooth, rounded profile.

Facts
Classification
Protected Status
National Park or Reserve 1
Connections

Associated With

Granite, Materials
Source Enchanted Rock (Wikipedia)
Schist, Materials
Source Enchanted Rock (Wikipedia)

Caused By

Erosion, Processes
Source Enchanted Rock (Wikipedia)
Weathering, Processes

In Discipline

Geomorphology, Disciplines
In the Other Atlases

Found In

United States

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikidata: Enchanted Rock
Sources
1. Enchanted Rock (Wikipedia)
  • Wikipedia article lead, protection designation
    s. In 1971, Enchanted Rock was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service. Enchanted Rock was rated in 2017 as the best campsite in Texas in a 50
  • Associated With: Granite, Lead paragraph
    Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain located in the Llano Uplift about 17 miles (27 km) north of Fredericksburg, Texas and 24 miles (39 km) south of Llano, Texas, United States.
  • Associated With: Granite, Article text, rock Granite
    The rock is actually only the visible above-ground portion of a segmented ridge, the surface expression of a large igneous batholith, called the Town Mountain Granite, of middle Precambrian (1,082 ± 6 million years ago) material that intruded into earlier metamorphic schist, called the Packsaddle Schist.
  • Associated With: Schist, Article text, rock Schist
    The rock is actually only the visible above-ground portion of a segmented ridge, the surface expression of a large igneous batholith, called the Town Mountain Granite, of middle Precambrian (1,082 ± 6 million years ago) material that intruded into earlier metamorphic schist, called the Packsaddle Schist.
  • Caused By: Erosion, Article text, process Erosion
    The intrusive granite of the rock mass, or pluton, was exposed by extensive erosion of the surrounding sedimentary rock, primarily the Cretaceous Edwards limestone that is exposed a few miles to the south.
View the Source
Wikidata: Enchanted Rock
Wikidata Q260281, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
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