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This information handout is provided to you, the park visitor, to answer some basic, frequently asked questions concerning the geologic features of Red Rock Canyon State Park. You are encouraged to explore and study at your own level the natural features of the canyon. Park Rangers are here to assist you in the education and appreciation of the features you observe here.

A geologic handbook, GEOLOGY OF RED ROCK CANYON STATE PARK, is for sale and available at the park office or from a Park Ranger for a small fee. This handbook was compiled by the Oklahoma Geologic Survey and is written in a non-technical form for the general public to read and understand.

A SHORT GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF RED ROCK CANYON

At many times in the distant past, forces within the Earth caused portions of Oklahoma and surrounding states to alternately sink and rise above sea level. About 260 million years ago an extensive, relatively shallow sea extended north from west Texas across the western half of the southern mid-continent, including western Oklahoma. The Ouachita Mountains and Ozark uplift (Arkansas and Missouri) bordered this sea on the west by the ancestral Rocky Mountains and on the east. These mountains were worn down; sand and mud eroded from the eastern half of the state and was carried in rivers to the western half of the state. The sand and mud was reworked by the wind forming sand dunes. The rock in this park shows the mixture of stream and wind deposited material. This deposited material was transformed into rock and, after millions of years of erosion, has become what you observe today.

COMMONLY ASKED GEOLOGIC QUESTIONS ABOUT RED ROCK CANYON

Q.  What type of rock makes up the canyon and canyon walls?

A.  Sandstone. Sandstone is a kind of sedimentary rock consisting of sand grains that have been naturally cemented together.         Geologically speaking the sandstone is part of the Rush Springs Formation.

Q.  How old is the sandstone?

A.  The age of the Rush Springs Formation is about 260 million years old.

Q.  How deep is the canyon?

A.  From the surrounding rolling plains, the canyon itself is about 150 feet deep. The vertical canyon walls and overhanging cliffs seen from the canyon floor are as much as 60 feet high but are generally 45 to 50 feet in height. The tallest vertical canyon wall, located as the backdrop wall to the pond, is 74 feet at its highest point.

Q.  How did the rock become red in color?

A.  The red color is caused from oxidized (rusted) iron materials that surround and stain the colorless quartz sand grains. It takes only a couple of percent of the red iron materials to give the sandstone its red color.

Q.  What caused or made the canyon to form?

A.  Red Rock Canyon is the result of a natural process known as erosion. Erosion is the weathering, disintegration, dissolving, and removal of rock and earth material, mainly by water and wind.

    Geologists know that the small stream that flows in the bottom of the canyon is not large enough to erode Red Rock Canyon. The stream must have once been much larger; this probably was the case during the Ice Age, about 2,000,000 to 10,000 years ago, when more rain fell in this part of Oklahoma than does now.

    During the Ice Age, large streams would slowly erode into the sandstone. At times, the streams would encounter shale, a softer rock than sandstone. Erosion would progress more rapidly in the shale, eventually forming a waterfall in the sandstone.  As erosion of the shale and sandstone continued, the waterfall would slowly migrate upstream, making the canyon longer and longer.

    During periods of less rainfall, erosion of the canyon would cease and the small amount of material carried by streams from outside the canyon would accumulate in the canyon and begin to fill it. Red Rock Canyon is, in fact, partially filled. About 40 feet of loose sand and mud lie on top of the bedrock floor of the canyon.

 

 

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