Is Devils Tower an ancient volcano? No!. Geologists agree that Devils Tower is an igneous intrusion; this means that it formed underground from molten rock. The magma sank into the surrounding sedimentary rock. Please wait a moment and try again.
Prokop Závada and his colleagues formulated the latest idea about the formation of the tower. They proposed that the tower was a volcano with diatremes of Maar 3,4.This is a special volcanic feature that forms when magma meets groundwater, which overheats and then explodes on the surface, perforating the sediments that cover it. The new hole is filled with rising magma to create an underground lava tower shaped like a cylinder.4 Soon after the Devil's Tower formed, draining floodwaters eroded the surrounding layers of sediment and left behind the lava monolith. In 1907, scientists Darton and O'Hara decided that the Devil's Tower must be an eroded remnant and a laccolyte.
The Devils Tower signage states that a “powerful current millions of years ago from the nearby Belle Fourche River swept away the sediments”. The Devil's Tower is a monument to the Flood, whose conditions laid the foundations for its catastrophic development. Pohd-lohk, an elderly Kiowa, gave Scott Momaday (Kiowa) the name Tsoai-talee (The Boy with the Rock Tree), and linked the boy to the myth of the Devil's Tower bear. Some of these wooden stakes remain intact and can be seen in the tower when you walk the 2.1 km (1.3 mile) Tower Trail at the Devil's Tower National Monument.
In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Devil's Tower as America's first national monument. However, the columnar junction of Devils Tower is the largest and most spectacular example of this fascinating geological phenomenon. The Devils Tower National Monument was the first national monument in the United States, established on September 24, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Tower's harder igneous rock is more resistant to erosion, and the gray columns of the Devil's Tower began to stand out above the surrounding landscape.
Geologists agree that Devils Tower began as magma, or molten rock buried under the Earth's surface. Geologists Carpenter and Russell studied the Devil's Tower in the late 19th century and concluded that the Tower was formed by igneous intrusion (the forced entry of magma through other layers of rock). O'Harra (from the South Dakota School of Mines) theorized that the Devil's Tower must be an eroded remnant of a laccolyte. Geologists Carpenter and Russell studied the Devil's Tower at the end of the 19th century and came to the conclusion that it had been formed by an igneous intrusion.
The thin pile of columns at the base of the tower proves that the Devil's Tower has been exposed for thousands of years alone. Protected in 1906 for its scientific value, Devils Tower remains a place of scientific study and public admiration.
