Enchanted Rock (16710 Ranch Rd 965, Fredericksburg TX) is an enormous pink granite Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granites usually have a medium to coarse grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals (phenocrysts) are larger than the groundmass in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic texture is sometimes known as a porphyry pluton An intrusion is liquid rock that forms under the surface of the earth. Magma from under the surface slowly moves its way up from deep within the earth and moves into any cracks or spaces it can find, sometimes pushing existing country rock out of the way, a process that can take millions of years or more to form. As the rock slowly cools into a rock formation located in the Llano Uplift The Llano Uplift is a roughly circular geologic dome of Precambrian rock, primarily granite, in Central Texas in the United States. It is located in the eastern region of the Edwards Plateau, west of the Texas Hill Country. The region is characterized by a central exposure of Precambrian granite , surrounded by a ring of gneiss and schist (Valley approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of Fredericksburg Fredericksburg is a city in Gillespie County, Texas, United States. The population was 8,911 at the 2000 census, and 10,432 in the 2005 census estimate. It is the county seat of Gillespie County, Texas, USA ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language and 15 miles (24 km) south of Llano, Texas Llano is a city in Llano County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 3,325. It is the county seat of Llano County. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, which includes Enchanted Rock and surrounding land, spans the border between Gillespie County Gillespie County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 20,814. It is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Gillespie is named for Robert Addison Gillespie, who came to Texas in 1837. He was a Texas Ranger, an Indian fighter, a merchant and a soldier in the Mexican-American War and Llano County Llano County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 17,044. Its county seat is Llano, and the county is named for the Llano River, south of the Llano River The Llano River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately 105 mi (169 km) long, in central Texas in the United States. It drains part of the Edwards Plateau in Texas Hill Country northwest of Austin. Enchanted Rock covers approximately 640 acres (260 ha) and rises approximately 425 feet (130 m) above the surrounding terrain to elevation of 1,825 feet (556 m) above sea level. It is the largest such pink granite monadnock A monadnock or inselberg is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. The term "monadnock" is usually used in the United States, whereas "inselberg" is the more common international term. In southern and southern-central Africa, a in the United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, a part of the Texas state park State parks are parks or other protected areas of the United States and in Mexico for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreation, or other reason, and under the administration of the government of a U.S. state or one of the states of Mexico. State parks are protected area of IUCN category II. The term system, includes 1,644 acres (665 ha).[1]
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Geology
Geological exfoliation This theory was originally proposed by the pioneering geomorphologist Grove Karl Gilbert in 1904 and is widely found in introductory geology texts. The basis of this theory is that erosion of overburden and exhumation of deeply buried rock to the ground surface allows previously compressed rock to expand radially, creating tensile stress and at Enchanted Rock State Natural AreaThe prominent granite dome A granite dome is a dome of granite, formed by exfoliation is visible for many miles in the surrounding basin of the Llano Uplift The Llano Uplift is a roughly circular geologic dome of Precambrian rock, primarily granite, in Central Texas in the United States. It is located in the eastern region of the Edwards Plateau, west of the Texas Hill Country. The region is characterized by a central exposure of Precambrian granite , surrounded by a ring of gneiss and schist (Valley. The weathered dome is a monadnock A monadnock or inselberg is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. The term "monadnock" is usually used in the United States, whereas "inselberg" is the more common international term. In southern and southern-central Africa, a. The rock is actually part of a segmented ridge, the surface expression of a large igneous Igneous rock is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. Igneous rock may form with or without crystallization, either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks. This batholith A batholith is a large emplacement of igneous intrusive (also called plutonic) rock that forms from cooled magma deep in the earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock-types, such as granite, quartz monzonite, or diorite (see also granite dome) of middle Precambrian The Precambrian is an informal name for the span of time before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is divided into several eons of the geologic time scale. It spans from the formation of Earth around 4500 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Cambrian Period, when macroscopic hard-shelled animals first appeared in abundance about 542 Ma (1,082 ± 6 million years ago)[2] material that intruded into earlier metamorphic Metamorphic rock is the result of the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change. The protolith may be sedimentary rock, igneous rock or another older metamorphic schists The schists form a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is produced. By definition, schist contains more than 50% platy and gneiss Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. The intrusive granite of the pluton was exposed by extensive erosion Erosion is the process of weathering and transport of solids in the natural environment or their source and deposits them elsewhere. It usually occurs due to transport by wind, water, or ice; by down-slope creep of soil and other material under the force of gravity; or by living organisms, such as burrowing animals, in the case of bioerosion of the surrounding sedimentary rock Sedimentary rock is a type of rock that is formed by sedimentation of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution. Particles that form a sedimentary rock by accumulating (which is primarily limestone Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . Like most other sedimentary rocks, limestones are composed of grains; however, most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts, and extraclasts).
History
Archaeological Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of past human societies, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data which they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes. Due to the fact that archaeology employs a wide range of different procedures, it can be evidence indicates human visitation at the rock going back at least 11,000 years.
According to the book [6] The Enchanted Rock published in 1999 by Ira Kennedy [7][8]
These hunter-gatherers had flint-tipped spears, fire, and stories. With these resources, some twelve thousand years ago, the first Texans became the wellspring of Plains Indian The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America culture.On the basis of archaeological evicence human habitation at Enchanted Rock can be traced back at least 10,000 years. Paleo-Indian projectile points, or arrowheads, 11-12,000 years old have been found in the area upstream and downstream from The Rock. The oldest authenticated projectile point found within the present day park is a Plainview type, dating back 10,000 years.
The rock has been the subject of numerous geological surveys and paintings.
Legends and Mysticism
Folklore Folklore consists of culture, including stories, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The academic and usually of local Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American people indigenous to present-day Oklahoma and Texas. They once spoke the Tonkawa language, an isolate not related to languages of other tribes. It is now extinct. The tribe is federally recognized and most members live in Oklahoma, Apache Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the American Southwest. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan (Apachean) language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan speakers of Alaska and western Canada. The and Comanche The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Originally, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian culture. There may have been as many as 45,000 tribes ascribes magical and spiritual powers to the rock (hence the name 'Enchanted Rock'). While attempting to hide from Anglo settlers in the area, the Natives would hide on the top two tiers of the rock, since they were unable to be seen from the ground below. The first European Europe is one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus region (Specification of borders) and the Black Sea to the southeast. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and to visit the area was probably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536. The Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American people indigenous to present-day Oklahoma and Texas. They once spoke the Tonkawa language, an isolate not related to languages of other tribes. It is now extinct. The tribe is federally recognized and most members live in Oklahoma, who inhabited the area in the 16th century, believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the dome. In particular they heard unexplained creaking and groaning, which geologists A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using physics, chemistry and biology as well as other attribute to the rock's night-time contraction after being heated by the sun during the day. The name "Enchanted Rock" derives from Spanish and Anglo-Texan interpretations of such legends and related folklore; the name "Crying Rock" has also been given to the formation.
The following is on a plaque on Enchanted Rock[9]
From its summit in 1841, Captain John C. Hays Col. John Coffee "Jack" Hays was a Texas Ranger captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas and the United States armies. Hays served in several armed conflicts, including the Indian and the Mexican-American wars, while surrounded by Comanche Indians who cut him off from his ranging company repulsed the whole band and inflicted upon them such heavy losses that they fled. Marked by the State of Texas Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Houston are the fourth and sixth largest United States metropolitan areas, respectively. Other major cities include San Antonio, El Paso, and Austin—the state capital. Texas is 1936
Other legends [10] [11] associated with Enchanted Rock are
- Named “Spirit Song Rock” for native legends
- Revered by native tribes as a holy portal to other worlds
- Anyone spending the night on the rock becomes invisible
- Spanish priest fled to the rock pursued by native tribes, disappeared, and returned to tell a mystic tale of falling into a cavern and being swallowed by the rock, encountering many spirits in the tunnels, eventually to be spit out two days later
- Haunted by spirits of warriors of a now-extinct native American tribe who were slaughtered at Enchanted Rock by a rival tribe
- Haunted by a native American princess who threw herself off the rock after witnessing the slaughter of her people
- Alleged sacrifices at the rock by both Comanche The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Originally, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian culture. There may have been as many as 45,000 and Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American people indigenous to present-day Oklahoma and Texas. They once spoke the Tonkawa language, an isolate not related to languages of other tribes. It is now extinct. The tribe is federally recognized and most members live in Oklahoma tribes
- Believed to be a lost silver mine, or the lost El Dorado El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into the lake Guatavita gold
- Bad fortune and death will befall anyone who climbs the rock with bad intent
- Footprint indentations on the rock of native American chief who sacrificed his daughter, condemned to walk Enchanted Rock forever
- Woman’s screams at night are of a white woman who took refuge on Enchanted Rock after escaping a kidnapping by native Americans
- Spanish soldier Don Jesús Navarro’s Enchanted Rock rescue of native maiden Rosa, daughter of Chief Tehuan, after her kidnap by Comanches The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Originally, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian culture. There may have been as many as 45,000 intent on sacrificing her on the rock
Flora and fauna
Sedum growing on top of Enchanted Rock near a vernal pool.More than 500 species of plants.[12] Four chief Plant Communities - Open Oak Woodland, Mesquite Grassland, Floodplain, and Granite Rock Community.
Vernal pools, ecologically threatened depressions of flora and fauna adapted to harsh environments, contain fragile invertebrate fairy shrimp.
Wildlife includes bats, ringtails, squirrels, and fox. A wide variety of lizards, including the Texas Horned Lizard can also be found.
Designated a key bird watching site,[13] includes Wild Turkey, Greater Roadrunner, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Western Scrub-Jay, Pyrrhuloxia, Canyon Towhee, Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Black-throated Sparrow, Lesser Goldfinch, Common Poorwill, Chuck-will’s-widow, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Vermilion Flycatcher, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Bell's Vireo and Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue Grosbeak, Painted Bunting, Orchard Oriole. Vesper Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, and Harris's Sparrow
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and Conservation
Campers staying in primitive area of Enchanted Rock S.N.A.Park activities include caving,[14] hiking, primitive backpack camping, rock climbing and picnicking. The Summit Trail[15] is the most popular hiking path.
Emphasis is placed on activity safety and ecological preservation. Visitors are asked to keep human incursion at a minimum, not disturbing plants, animals or artifacts.[16]
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department partners with Friends of Enchanted Rock,[17] a volunteer-based nonprofit organization that works for the improvement and preservation of Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. Scheduled Summit Trail tours are the third Saturday of the month starting April, May, September, October, November, and December. Private tours are available for groups at other times.
Gallery
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Enchanted Rock in 1912, showing exfoliation of the granite parallel to the surface.[18] |
An aerial view in Sept. 2008. |
A view from the top in July 2008. Rain clouds can be seen in the distance. |
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Sat, 07 Aug 2010 14:22:57 GMT+00:00
San Francisco Chronicle Spilling out of studios or wafting through nightclubs, the now instantly recognizable refrains of jazz greats, folk revivalists and rock legends enchanted ...
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Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:02:00 GM
Atlanta rapper B.o.B. . enchanted. all the ladies with his hit Beautiful Girls and took the crowd soaring above Hard . Rock. Hotel Chicago with his smash Airplanes. Centered around a bus, Hard . Rock. Cafe Chicago's parking lot became the ...
