Climb the Majestic Rockies

[Dan_Suitor]

Part of History Channel’s “How the Earth Was Made” series. I saw it a while ago, then again last night. It gives great insight to what the Rockies used to be, how they grew, and what their future holds. It references Colorado quite a bit and answers a lot of questions about what we see when climbing. The belief is they were twice as high as they are now. Guess back then this web site would be 28ers.com .

[greenonion]

Thanks for sharing this - looks very interesting. From what I've heard the Rockies we have now are the second range to have sprung up after the first one rose up then eroded away over a loooooong time. And I think both ranges were ~20k+ feet. Crazy to think about. Geologists may want to clarify or refute...

[habaceeba]

29:15 Boulder canyon is not NE of Longs Peak
29:41 'The summit, about 45k square feet' That's Meeker not Longs...c'mon History Channel.

Thanks for sharing this. Fascinating stuff. I better go get Rio Grande Pyramid before it sinks into the rift.

[Dan_Suitor]

29:41 'The summit, about 45k square feet' That's Meeker not Longs...c'mon History Channel.

Are you sure about that? When I was atop Meeker, the summit was not event 4 square feet.

[timewarp01]

Thanks for sharing this - looks very interesting. From what I've heard the Rockies we have now are the second range to have sprung up after the first one rose up then eroded away over a loooooong time. And I think both ranges were ~20k+ feet. Crazy to think about. Geologists may want to clarify or refute...

During the Carboniferous Period (~300 million years ago) two huge ranges faulted upward in Colorado, laying the groundwork for the ranges we see today. These are called the 'Ancestral Rockies' and the two individual formations are called Uncompahgria and Frontrangia. Colorado's smaller ranges, like the Sangres, the Fountain and Maroon Formations, etc, are all remnants of the sediment that built up by wind and erosion at the base of these larger mountains. Despite the enormity of the geologic event that probably created them, the Ancestrals probably only rose to 10,000 feet or so before most of Colorado was eroded back to a more or less smooth plain during the Permian period. It wasn't until the Cretaceous period that any significant mountain building took place again, when the Laramide Orogeny lifted the Uncompahgre area and the Front Range while simultaneously lowering the Denver and Piceance basins. The uplift of the Front Range adjacent to the subsiding Denver basin is what produced the super tall ancient rockies that people talk about. There is a difference of height between the summit of Longs Peak and the ancient surface of the Denver basin of about 22,000 feet. The huge wave of uplift lasted 30 million years before slowing down enough for erosion to keep pace, with glaciation and wind doing most of the work to wear the larger ranges down to where they are today. In the millions of years after the Laramide Orogeny ended, these basins have been filled in to some extent by sediment, which is why the height difference isn't as big today. There were some volcanic intrusions that created more mountains between then and now, most notably in the San Juans, but for the most part the mountain building events had subsided.

Anyone interested in knowing more should check out Roadside Geology of Colorado, an amazing book written for non-scientists about Colorado's history, structured around the views and rock cuts you see as you drive the state's major highways. It makes those long drives to the 14ers a lot more interesting, and there are all kinds of fascinating details, like why Longs has a flat summit, or that the Sawatch and Mosquito ranges are opposite sides of the same eroded anticline, or how nobody really knows where Pikes Peak came from.

[habaceeba]

29:41 'The summit, about 45k square feet' That's Meeker not Longs...c'mon History Channel.

Are you sure about that? When I was atop Meeker, the summit was not event 4 square feet.

Sorry, I wasn't clear on that one. The summit of Longs is likely 45k square feet, but the shot the film used when those words were spoken was of Meeker. That's what I meant.

[habaceeba]

Thanks for sharing this - looks very interesting. From what I've heard the Rockies we have now are the second range to have sprung up after the first one rose up then eroded away over a loooooong time. And I think both ranges were ~20k+ feet. Crazy to think about. Geologists may want to clarify or refute...

During the Carboniferous Period (~300 million years ago) two huge ranges faulted upward in Colorado, laying the groundwork for the ranges we see today. These are called the 'Ancestral Rockies' and the two individual formations are called Uncompahgria and Frontrangia. Colorado's smaller ranges, like the Sangres, the Fountain and Maroon Formations, etc, are all remnants of the sediment that built up by wind and erosion at the base of these larger mountains. Despite the enormity of the geologic event that probably created them, the Ancestrals probably only rose to 10,000 feet or so before most of Colorado was eroded back to a more or less smooth plain during the Permian period. It wasn't until the Cretaceous period that any significant mountain building took place again, when the Laramide Orogeny lifted the Uncompahgre area and the Front Range while simultaneously lowering the Denver and Piceance basins. The uplift of the Front Range adjacent to the subsiding Denver basin is what produced the super tall ancient rockies that people talk about. There is a difference of height between the summit of Longs Peak and the ancient surface of the Denver basin of about 22,000 feet. The huge wave of uplift lasted 30 million years before slowing down enough for erosion to keep pace, with glaciation and wind doing most of the work to wear the larger ranges down to where they are today. In the millions of years after the Laramide Orogeny ended, these basins have been filled in to some extent by sediment, which is why the height difference isn't as big today. There were some volcanic intrusions that created more mountains between then and now, most notably in the San Juans, but for the most part the mountain building events had subsided.

Anyone interested in knowing more should check out Roadside Geology of Colorado, an amazing book written for non-scientists about Colorado's history, structured around the views and rock cuts you see as you drive the state's major highways. It makes those long drives to the 14ers a lot more interesting, and there are all kinds of fascinating details, like why Longs has a flat summit, or that the Sawatch and Mosquito ranges are opposite sides of the same eroded anticline, or how nobody really knows where Pikes Peak came from.

YES! Thank you! I have looked for just such a book before but didn't turn up anything. I will definitely check this out.