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University of Missouri Department of Geological Sciences

Rock type:      Quartzite
Location:        near Wamego, KS

This is a piece of Sioux Quartzite, found as a boulder in a field near Wamego, Kansas. It was

originally from further north, around the South Dakota-Minnesota-Iowa border, and transported

southwards by glaciers during the Pleistocene ice age. It was deposited in Kansas around 700,000

to 600,000 years ago, although the rock originally formed from quartz-rich sand in the

Precambrian (more than 542 million years ago). The best estimate of its age comes from dating

similar rocks that crop out in Wisconsin and Minnesota, which suggest it originally formed around

1.7 billion years ago.   

Photo by Alan Whittington, MU Geology

MU Geology Department
http://geology.missouri.edu/