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Biology, Environmental ScienceDevils Tower Root System Prev Article Next Article ToggleIntroduction to the Devils TowerFormation of the Devils TowerRoots Beneath Devils TowerCulture Coupled With the Devils Tower Climbing the Devils TowerInteresting Facts About the Devils TowerIntroduction to the Devils TowerThe Devils Tower, also known as the Bear Lodge Butte, is a laccolithic butte composed mainly of igneous rock and is located in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills in Crook County, North-eastern Wyoming, in the United States of America. The height of this monument is 867 feet from base to summit with its summit rising to a height of 5,112 feet above sea level. The Devils Tower was the first US national monument established by President Theodore Roosevelt on the 24th of September 1906. In 1875, Colonel Richard Irving Dodge led an expedition for geologist Walter P. Jenney through the Black Hills region. They were there to confirm claims of gold, first initiated by General George Armstrong Custer. Upon reaching the site Colonel Dodge was mesmerised by the rock formation describing it as “one of the most remarkable peaks in this or any country”. He recorded the name as ‘Devils Tower’ because his interpreter misinterpreted, the native name to mean “Bad God’s Tower”. That is how the name “Devils Tower” came into being.The Native American names for the monolith include “Bear’s House” or “Bear’s Lodge”.Formation of the Devils TowerIn the late 19th century, geologists Carpenter and Russell studied the Devils Tower and concluded that it was formed by the intrusion of igneous material but were unsure about how the process took place. In 1907 geologists Nelson Horatio Darton and C.C. O’Hara theorized that the Devils Tower must be the eroded remnant of a laccolith. A laccolith is a mass of igneous rock intruded through beds of sedimentary rock and never reaching the surface, but instead leaves a rounded bump in the sedimentary layers above. The igneous rock that forms the Devils Tower is porphyritic phonolite that was intruded about 40.5 million years ago. As the magma cooled, hexagonal columns formed each about six feet in the diameter. As the magma cooled further the width of the columns shrank and cracks occurred at the angles of 120 degrees, forming compact 6-sided columns. The Devils Tower did not visibly protrude out of the ground till the sedimentary rocks surrounding the landscape eroded away. Rain and ice continue to erode the sedimentary rocks surrounding the base of the Devils Tower and over a period more of the Devils Tower will be exposed.Roots Beneath Devils TowerIn July 2017, a Facebook page claimed that the Devils Tower was actually the remnants of a giant tree. The article was posted by ‘Casper Planet’, claiming that the Wyoming State Parks Department had discovered a large network of roots beneath the base of the Devils Tower. The article went on to say that the parks department released a statement saying, “We have discovered, what looks like a giant root system stemming from the base of the Devils Tower. The root system has been measured at 4 miles deep by 7 miles wide. We are currently conducting studies and tests to confirm that this is actually a root system and not a coincidence.” The following picture was posted by the page along with this post:The Facebook page ‘Casper Planet’ is an entertainment page and it was later revealed that there is no truth behind the article. The diagram of the root system used by the Facebook page was of a sweet corn root system with a label mentioning a depth of 4 feet into the ground. This label had been edited to read, 4 miles. Wyoming State Parks addressed the claim in August 2017, in a Facebook post that read as, “Wyoming State Parks did not, does not, has not and will not be participating in any kind of scientific study as claimed by this website, which is a fake account and has no basis in reality. Thanks for letting us know this was out there, we’ll handle it from here!”Culture Coupled With the Devils Tower The Devils Tower is held sacred by many Native American Indian tribes and there are many fables surrounding the formation of this gigantic rock. Two of them are mentioned below:According to the Kiowa and Lakota tribes, a group of girls were playing when they were spotted by several giant bears who began to chase them. The girls climbed atop a huge rock and got down on their knees to pray to the Great Spirit to save them. The Great Spirit heard their prayers and made the rock rise from the ground and towards the heavens so the bears could not reach them. The bears tried to climb the rock and left deep claw marks in the sides of the rock, which today are the marks that appear on the sides of the Devils Tower. Upon reaching the sky the girls were turned into the stars of Pleiades.The Sioux tribe tells a similar story of two boys who wandered from their village when Mato the bear, a huge creature with claws the size of tipi poles, spotted them ...

Devils Tower Root System – StudiousGuy