Devil’s Tower, WY

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Jim Reed
Rising from the plains. Is it a feeder for an overlying volcano, an overlying laccolith, or just a stock?
The rock is a porphyritic phonolite (extrusive nepheline syenite). Methinks the viscosity leans towards the stock theory.
The phonolite cooled into hexagonal columns that beak off and form a rubble pile at the base of the tower.
Broken-off columns. There are some old roads in Europe that are paved with smaller basalt column hexagons.
Here’s a column chunk that broke off and almost crushed Dyan (had she been sanding there whenever it actually fell off).
The tower is a Mecca for climbers.
This fox was unsuccessfully stalking the prairie dogs.
Our cabin provided an unobstructed view of the tower. The campsite set up a viewing of Close Encounters with the tower looming up behind the screen.

Goodbye Mister Devil and all of the other wonders that we saw during our 3,700 mile / 16-day excursion.

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About Jim Reed

Geologist & Director of Research & Development, RockWare Incorporated, 2221 East Street, Suite 101, Golden, CO 80401 Email: jim@rockware.com
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