South Table Mountain (Colorado)
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 2022-01-12

South Table Mountain (Colorado), by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10054154 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Mesas_of_Colorado
#Landforms_of_Jefferson_County,_Colorado
#North_American_1000_m_summits
#Works_Progress_Administration_in_Colorado
#Golden,_Colorado
South Table Mountain is a mesa on the eastern flank of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America.
Castle Rock, the 6,338-foot （1,932 m） summit of the mesa, is located on private property in Jefferson County, Colorado, 0.
56 miles （0.9 km） directly east （bearing 90°） of downtown Golden.
The most distinctive feature of the mesa is its nearly flat cap that is formed by ancient Paleocene lava flows.
It is separated from companion North Table Mountain, which consists of the same geologic formation, by Clear Creek.
South Table Mountain is a popular scenic and recreational destination in the Denver metro area, and most of it is preserved as Jefferson County Open Space.
Its landmark prominence is Castle Rock, a small higher butte that projects from the mesa's northwest end.
South Table Mountain is underlain by sedimentary rocks of the Denver Formation, which spans the interval from latest Cretaceous to early Paleocene time.
An exposure of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary layer has been identified and documented on its slopes.
Two prominent, columnar jointed, cliff-forming lava flows form the nearly flat cap on South Table Mountain.
The Ralston Dike, a body of intrusive monzonite located about 4 miles to the northwest, probably represents the volcanic vent from which the flows erupted.
The flows are about 62 to 64 million years old according to radiometric dating, which places them in the early Paleocene epoch.
Generally referred to as basaltic, they are classified either as latite, or as shoshonite.
They contain the minerals augite, plagioclase, and olivine altered to serpentine, with accessory sanidine, orthoclase, apatite, magnetite, and biotite.
Both North and South Table Mountain are known for the wid...