Scientists debate how the Devil's Tower formed, but they agree that about 65 million years ago, molten lava was introduced into existing hard rock formations, cooling and eroding for millions of years to form this striking formation that is 1,267 feet above the landscape. Geologists agree that Devils Tower began as magma, or molten rock buried under the Earth's surface. What they don't agree on are the processes by which magma cooled to form the Tower, nor in its relationship with the surrounding geology of the area. Numerous theories have been proposed to explain how the Devil's Tower was formed. 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).
Later, geologists sought more detailed explanations. Evolutionary geologists are not yet sure how the Devil's Tower formed, but they claim that it occurred 50 million years ago. Made from a rock called phonolite, it has a grey-green color, 2 of the first interpreters deduced that it was the core of an ancient volcano. Others believed it to be a laccolyte, a large magma that compresses into overlying sedimentary rocks and arches the sediments upwards in the form of a mushroom, 3 But we see no evidence that the surrounding sediments were bent upwards.
They remain flat, layer after layer, just as they were deposited in the Flood. Almost everyone agrees that Devils Tower was built with molten rock or magma, but that's where the certainties end and the fun begins. Pohd-lohk, an elderly Kiowa, named Scott Momaday (Kiowa) Tsoai-talee (The Boy with the Rock Tree) after Pohd-lohk, and linked the boy with the myth of the Devil's Tower bear. In 1907, scientists Darton and O'Hara decided that Devils Tower must be an eroded remnant of a laccolyte.
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 Devils Tower National Monument. The phonolite columns of Devils Tower and the surrounding rocky debris are embedded with a phenomenon that exemplifies living collaborative lichens with a unique design. These columns can be found in other structures around the world, but Devils Tower stands out for their size. But if the Devil's Tower had been exposed 5 to 10 million years ago, as conventional scientists claim, it would probably have completely eroded away in this period of time.
The Devils Tower National Monument was the first national monument in the United States, established on September 24, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. Ironically, the erosion that exposed the Tower also erased the evidence needed to determine which theory about the formation of the Devil's Tower is correct. The Devil's Tower stands as a monument to the Flood, whose conditions laid the foundations for its catastrophic development. The Devils Tower signage states that a “powerful current millions of years ago from the nearby Belle Fourche River swept away the sediments”.
The children make the sisters take the bear to Devils Tower and trick him into believing that they have climbed the rock. At nearly three times the height of the Statue of Liberty, Devils Tower is impressive even for the most experienced travelers.
