Important Events in Garden of the Gods Geology
The timeline below gives an overview of the geological periods evident in the Garden of the Gods, starting from the present and working backwards through time. M.Y.B.P. stands for "Millions of Years Before the Present."
Need a detailed description of all these big words? Click on the Glossary at left.
|Holocene||present-.01||Shaping of modern Garden of the Gods red rock landscape by the forces of erosion. Human Presence.|
|Pleistocene||.01-2||Climatic fluctuations including 3 major periods of glaciation.
Mesa gravels deposited.
|Pliocene||2-12||Mountain streams rejuvenated and begin canyon cutting.|
|Miocene||12-23||A third mountain-building pulse. (Rocky III) |
Extensive erosion in Rockies, intermontane basins fill.
|Oligocene||25-38||Volcanism in the region near today's Florissant Colorado.|
|Eocene||38-55||Rockies are above sea level.|
|Paleocene||60-70||Front Range is uplifted and intermontane parks form.|
Sedimentary formations of the Garden of the Gods are tilted up. (Rocky II)
|Cretaceous||70-135||Extinction of dinosaurs. A second major mountain building pulse begins in the Rockies, beginning the Laramide Revolution. Purgatoire, Dakota, Benton, and Niobrara Formations are deposited.|
|Jurassic||150||The Morrison Formation is deposited in tropical lowlands.|
|Triassic||180-225||Ancestral Rockies are completely eroded and buried under their own debris.|
|Permian||225-270||Lyons Sandstone and Lykins Formations are deposited.|
|Pennsylvania||275-310||A major period of mountain building begins as the Ancestral Rockies develop. Fountain Formation is deposited as alluvial fans along flanks of mountains. (Rockies I)|
|Mississippian||305-350||There is restlessness and early mountain uplift in the Rocky Mountain Trough.|
|Precambrian||600||Rocky Mountain Trough is initiated.|
|1000||Pikes Peak Granite is formed|
*Millions of years before present