Fall at Johnson Shut-ins State Park MO_GRK0368_10292018-HDR copy
by Greg Kluempers
Title
Fall at Johnson Shut-ins State Park MO_GRK0368_10292018-HDR copy
Artist
Greg Kluempers
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Johnson Shut-ins Missouri State Park on the Black River --
Nearly 1.5 billion years ago, violently explosive volcanoes hurled hot gasses and ash into the air. The ashes and gas fell and cooled, forming rhyolite rock. A billion years later, shallow inland seas swallowed the ancient, worn-down mountains, burying the igneous rock under thousands of feet of sedimentary rock such as limestone, sandstone, shale and dolomite.
About 250 million years later, the entire Ozark region lifted and the seas retreated. The wind and rain took their toll on the upraised land, sending streams of sand- and gravel-laden water to slice away the layers of soft sedimentary rock and expose the rhyolite below. In low places, the swift Black River became shut-in by the hard igneous rocks, swirling and churning to form huge potholes, and breaking away the weaker rock to create natural water slides and canyon-like gorges.
This immense natural playground is the primary feature of the 180-acre Johnson’s Shut-Ins Natural Area, only a portion of the 8,549-acre Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park. Most of the park, including the shut-ins and two miles of river frontage, was donated in 1955 by Joseph Desloge, a St. Louis civic leader and conservationist from a prominent lead-mining family.
Uploaded
December 6th, 2018
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