What is so cool about the Flatirons?

Boulder, a Geological point of interest all over the world, its where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains. Located in a wide basin beneath Flagstaff Mountain it is directly on the 40^th parallel. With a total area of only 25.4 sq. miles, Boulder is home to one of the greatest examples of a Fountain Formation in North America.   

*This picture shows a great example of the difference in the Mountains located behind the Flatirons (the Rockies) and the Flatirons, as well as how the plains come to meet the Mountains so abruptly

As far as other rocks settled in Boulder, they are dated all the way back to the Precambrian period. These rocks consist of Granite and Metamorphic rock. Though the most prominent rocks in the area is Schist, Gneiss, and Quartzite.

The Flatirons Mountain Range is part of the Rocky Mountains formerly known as the Ancestral Rockies which were formed during the Pennsylvanian Period, about 300 million years ago.  This unique mountain range was created when the subduction of tectonic plates created the Rockies and it pushed all the Precambrian Rock upwards. This movement eroded them and allowed the rocks to weather. The debris that came from the rocks later formed into a type of sandstone called Akrose. This is known as the Red stone that makes up the Boulder Flatirons, during a process called Fountain Formation.

*Example of the Sandstone, Akrose