At least, that’s what I think this quote means…
The measurement of river sediment output into the oceans indicates that all of North America would have been eroded flat to sea level in just 10 Ma. However, this does ignore a range of geotectonic factors. Regardless, a maximum erosion time to level North America is probably no more than 40 to 50 Ma.
As you can see, the quote qualifies itself, so maybe we have an extra 30 to 40 million years… That’s a relief!
All kidding aside, an interesting article about the Devil’s Tower, a phenomenon I have thought of visiting on one of my cross-continent treks. It’s a bit off the beaten path, so we haven’t taken the time to visit, but it is a natural wonder in God’s great world.
That article is wrong. On a visit to the site, I saw a Native American depiction of a giant bear trying to get after a man on top of the tower. That is why there are claw marks all up and down the tower. I just thought you should know the truth.
Definitely worth visiting. My wife and I took the time to go over there on a trip to the SW corner of South Dakota to see some of the various sights around that area. We ended up spending pretty much a whole day there, hiking around the base, just enjoying the views and remarking on the several views of how it was formed being just another indicator that scientists may try a lot of speculation, but have no really good explanation for how it came to be, how old it supposedly is, etc.
What’s really fascinating when you get up close (or see good closeup pictures of it), you can see that all the columns that form the structure are very geometric. Mostly 6-sided, but also 5, 7, and probably some others as well. You might expect that if you are a geologist, or you think about the rock being crystalline, but it really sinks home when you see it up close.
@Allen… you’re joking, right?
@Dave
There are many fantastic sights out west. We have stopped at Rushmore and at the Little Big Horn (conveniently located right off the Interstate!) and of course Wall Drug. All of it very fascinating stuff. We are going to have to make a point of stopping at this one one of these days.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
Yes. I am joking. It was a fun trip to see it.
“That is why there are claw marks all up and down the tower.”
C’mon Allen! That’s silly. Aliens did it. I saw Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. ;-)
LM
I’m with you Lou, we all know that Hollywood would NEVER not present the truth.
Allen may be joking, but if you visit the Devil’s Tower visitor’s center, you can indeed read the Indian legend of a bear climbing the tower and leaving marks on it.
Check these links for various Indian stories/legends of Devil’s Tower:
http://www.scienceviews.com/parks/devilstowerlegends.html
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Devils_Tower_National_Monument
http://www.devilstower.net/legend.html
The third one shows a picture very similar to the one I remember seeing at Devil’s Tower.