Enchanted Rock is an enormous pink granite pluton just west of the Hill Country of central Texas in the United States. It is located in southern Llano County south of the Llano River, approximately 15 mi (24 km) north of Fredericksburg. It covers approximately 640 acres (3 km²) and rises approximately 425 ft (130 m) above the surrounding terrain to elevation of 1,825 ft (550 m) above sea level. It the second largest such granite monadnock in the United States after Stone Mountain in Georgia. It is currently part of Enchanted Rock State Natural Area in the Texas state park system. Granite - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Pluton redirects here. ... The Texas Hill Country, as seen from near Interstate 10. ... State nickname: Lone Star State Other U.S. States Capital Austin Largest city Houston Governor Rick Perry Official languages None. ... Llano County is a county located in the state of Texas. ... The Llano River (LAW-no) is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately 105 mi (169 km) long, in central Texas in the United States. ... Fredericksburg is a city located in Gillespie County, Texas. ... A monadnock is an isolated hill or a lone mountain comprised of bedrock rising above the surrounding area. ... This article is about the Stone Mountain in Georgia, USA. For other peaks, see Stone Mountain (disambiguation). ... State park is a term used in the United States and in Mexico for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or other reason, and under the administration of the government of a U.S. state or one of the states of Mexico. ...

Geology and History

The prominent granite rock dome is visible for many miles in the surrounding basin of the Llano Uplift. Its gentle dome gives the appearance of being the edge of a pebble of leviathan proportions extruding from the earth, in the same manner as the larger Ayers Rock in Australia. The rock is actually part of segmented ridge, the surface expression of a large igneous batholith of middle Precambrian material that intruded into earlier metamorphic schists and gneiss. The intrusive granite of the pluton was exposed by extensive erosion of the surrounding sedimentary rock (which is primarily limestone). The Llano Uplift is a formation of Precambrian rock, primarily granite, in Central Texas in the United States. ... Uluru (also Ayers Rock or The Rock) is a large rock formation in central Australia, in the Northern Territory. ... Igneous rocks are formed when molten rock (magma) cools and solidifies, with or without crystallization, either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks. ... Half Dome A batholith is a large emplacement of igneous intrusive (also called plutonic) rock that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earths crust. ... The Precambrian or Cryptozoic is the period of the geologic timescale from the formation of Earth around 4500 million years before the present (BP) to the evolution of abundant macroscopic hard-shelled fossils, which marked the beginning of the Cambrian, some 542 million years BP. Remarkably little is known about... Metamorphic rock is the result of the transformation of a pre-existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means change in form, derived from the Greek words meta, change, and morphe, form. The protolith is subjected to extreme heat (>150 degrees Celsius) and pressure causing profound... Categories: Mineral stubs | Metamorphic rocks ... Banded gneiss with dike of granite orthogneiss Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high grade regional metamorphic processes from preexisting formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock, and so forth) by the agents of wind, water, ice, movement in response to gravity, or living organisms (in the case of bioerosion). ... Two types of sedimentary rock: limey shale overlaid by limestone. ... Media:Example. ...

Archaeological evidence indicates human visitation at the rock going back at least 11,000 years. Folklore of local Native American tribes ascribes magical and spiritual powers to the rock(hence the name 'Enchanted Rock'). The first European to visit the area was probably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536. The Tonkawa, 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 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. Archaeology or archæology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of cultural and environmental data, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Folklore is the ethnographic concept of the tales, legends, or superstitions current among a particular ethnic population, a part of the oral history of a particular culture. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c. ... Events February 2 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina. ... The Tonkawa are a people native to eastern Texas. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... A geologist is a contributor to the science of geology. ...

The rock has been the subject of numerous geological surveys and paintings. It was declared a National Natural Landmark in 1970. In The rock was in private hands until 1978, when it was purchased by the Nature Conservancy. The State of Texas acquired it in 1979 and opened it as a park in 1984 after adding facilities. That same year it was also added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is currently one of the most popular destinations for hiking and camping in central Texas. Climbing footpaths to the top of the dome is a popular activity. Technical rock climbing is very popular there as well. 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... The Nature Conservancy is an environmental organization, founded in 1951. ... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Register of Historic Places is the USAs official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects worthy of preservation. ... Climbers on Valkyrie at the Roaches. ...

External links

• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/enchantd/enchantd.htm)
• Texas Handbook Online: Enchanted Rock (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/EE/rje13.html)
• E-Rock: Virtual Trip to Enchanted Rock (http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rmr/E-rock/E-rock.html)
• Technical rock climbing at Enchanted Rock (http://www.erockonline.com)
• Extensive photo collection from Enchanted Rock at Fractasia (http://fractasia.com/cgi-bin/pw1.pl?photoguid=brianp&suite=Enchanted.Rock)