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Exfoliating dome. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Fredericksburg, Texas, USA.

Explore a large pink granite dome at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, between Fredericksburg and Llano, Texas, USA. Enchanted Rock is a fascinating exfoliation dome (with layers like an onion), rising 425 feet (130 m) above its surroundings to elevation of 1825 feet (556 m) above sea level, in the Llano Uplift. Geologically, the exposed rock (monadnock or inselberg, "island mountain") is part of a pluton (bubble of rock slowly crystallized from magma) within the billion-year-old igneous batholith, Town Mountain Granite (covering 62 square miles mostly underground), which intruded from a deep pool of hot magma 7 miles upwards into the older metamorphic Packsaddle Schist. The overlying sedimentary rock (Cretaceous Edwards limestone) eroded away to expose the prominent domes seen today: Enchanted Rock, Little Rock, Turkey Peak, Freshman Mountain, and Buzzard's Roost.

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Texas: Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, 2014 Mar 15-Apr 09: all: southwest (UT, NM, TX), OR, CA
Explore a large pink granite dome at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, between Fredericksburg and Llano, Texas, USA. Enchanted Rock is a fascinating exfoliation dome (with layers like an onion), rising 425 feet (130 m) above its surroundings to elevation of 1825 feet (556 m) above sea level, in the Llano Uplift. Geologically, the exposed rock (monadnock or inselberg, "island mountain") is part of a pluton (bubble of rock slowly crystallized from magma) within the billion-year-old igneous batholith, Town Mountain Granite (covering 62 square miles mostly underground), which intruded from a deep pool of hot magma 7 miles upwards into the older metamorphic Packsaddle Schist. The overlying sedimentary rock (Cretaceous Edwards limestone) eroded away to expose the prominent domes seen today: Enchanted Rock, Little Rock, Turkey Peak, Freshman Mountain, and Buzzard's Roost.
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