Monument Rocks

This morning when we woke up and looked out our back bedroom window, we saw that we were surrounded by a flock of turkeys. There were about 12 turkeys, two toms with their tails fanned, and the rest hens. (I'm taking this picture through the screen.)

To the side of us was this group of hens.

When we got to the park yesterday, the office was already closed so this morning we stopped in to learn about park attractions, get a park map and ask for directions to Kansas' geo-site, Monument Rocks. Meet Larry and Patsy. Patsy runs the office, I'm not sure what Larry does but he knew a lot about the park and the surrounding area. 

In the office was this wonderful Snowy Owl.

Monument Rocks are 18 miles from the park down some pretty basic roads. Imagine you are a pioneer traveling west across Kansas to the Rockies following the Smoky Hill Trail. As you cross Kansas all you see is the landscape shown above (ignore the truck and petroleum tanks on the left).

As we travelled this road I wasn't going fast enough so I pulled over to let the pickup pass. There he goes!

As we approached Monument Rocks we pass herds of free-range cattle on a pretty flat terrain.

All of a sudden, up pops these Monument Rocks, also know as the Chalk Pyramids, sentinels demonstrating the awesome power of wind and water erosion

All right class, by now you know that during the Cretaceous period an inland ocean once inundated central North America. 

Ninety million years ago, the North American Plate slowly converged with the Pacific Plate, causing the central area of the continent to sag. Waters from the Arctic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico gradually coalesced within the newborn trough. This Western Interior Seaway extended 600 miles from the embryonic Rockies east to the Appalachians, and at least 3,000 miles north to south. Geologists describe this as one of the greatest epicontinental seas of all time, on average 500 feet deep and characterized by a placid, tropical environment. 

As the Cretaceous period closed, the growth of the Rocky Mountains elevated the land surface of North America and forced the Western Interior Seaway to retreat. In its wake lay a vast, relatively thick sequence of sedimentary rock composed predominately of shale, chalky limestone, and chalk. For 65 million years a steady siege of erosion, initially by streams, and then through the action of wind, created isolated islands of the chalk-rich Monument Rocks.  95% of Monument Rocks is chalk, quite similar in composition to the famed White Cliffs of Dover of southern England.

Most recently, the Smoky Hill River, wind and rain have eroded the chalk deposits, creating bluffs and outcroppings and exposing some of the best fossils that have been found anywhere in the world. Many of the fossils found in this area are now on display in museums around the world.

Of course, Mr. Spock found these examples of wind erosion fascinating.

He was surprised that they were so big.

Spock loved being in the middle of this famous spot in Kansas, one of the landmarks used by the pioneers as they travelled west.

Some more pictures of these stunning rock formations.

Maybe you can just see Frederick at the base of the formation - lower center left.

There's Frederick.

We are wearing our windbreakers because the wind, which did much of the erosion, was continuing to blow and it was in the 50s (it was 36 when we woke this morning).

We wanted to see some of the fossils that have been found at this site and we were told that the Keystone Gallery, located back on the highway, would have some on display. We found this sign and after driving through many major dips in the road, which would fill with water in the rain, we made our way back to the highway.

Along the way we passed this cemetery which had recent graves. The letters of the sign are fused chain links.

Here we are at the closed Keystone Gallery. Frederick tried to call for an appointment but all he got was a voice message.

Here is a picture of Pteranodon (Tur-an-o-don), one of the largest known flying reptiles, with a wingspan over 20 ft. It existed during the late Cretaceous period of North America in present day Kansas.

Back in Lake Scott State Park there was another interesting feature to visit.

El Quartelejo (also El Cuartelejo - Spanish Spelling) was believed to be built in the 1600s by a group from the Taos and Picuris Pueblo Indians, fleeing Spanish rule in search of a new home among the Prairie Apache. Known as the Quartelejo Apache, they constructed pueblos and cultivated crops using a system of irrigation ditches from a near-by spring, the same springs that feed the current Lake Scott. They lived here for nearly twenty years before returning to their homes in the south. 

During the years that followed, the pueblo was occupied by members of other nations with the last known Indians around 1706. The Spanish and French occasionally occupied the structure as a frontier outpost during the 18th century. However, after 1763 and the French retreat from the area, the pueblo was abandoned. Eventually, its walls decayed and the structure was buried by wind drifted soil.

In the mid-1890s, the Pueblo ruins were discovered and excavated by two professors from the University of Kansas. The ruins, together with the recovered artifacts, stone and bone tools, ornaments and pottery shards, led to the identification of this site as that of the historic El Cuartelejo, believed to be the northernmost pueblo in North America.