Red Rocks located at Garden of the Gods and Red Rocks Amphitheatre were formed around 290-296 million years ago. They were formed when the Ancestral Rocky Mountains were eroded during the Pennsylvanian epoch. The uplift of the Laramide orogeny tilted the rocks to the angles they sit at today. Red rocks contain layers of cross bedded red fusion. It is fine grained sedimentary rock remains from the Rocky Mountains. The rock has mixed with materials like clay and silt sediment. This forms solid synthesis that has lasted eons prom the Pennsylvanian epoch. The Rocky Mountains contain metamorphic rock of granite, gneiss and schist. These are made of minerals such as feldspar and quartz which compromise iron rich sandstone sediments. The Pennsylvanian Period deposits were moved by rivers in what geologists call a fluvial and alluvial river system. Combined minerals that have clay and silts and other elements like iron deposits different layers upon cross bedded layers. The cross bedded layers became conglomerates under the pressure and heat over the many millions of years.
Most red rock formations are made up of the Aztec Sandstone. These formations can be composed of lithified sand dunes that formed in deserts. Lithification is the process of changing unconsolidated sediment into sedimentary rock. Massive cross-bedding, composed of wind deposits is a result of the shifting wind direction as seen in the rock formations. The red color of red rock formations is due to the presence of iron oxide or hematite. Exposure to these elements can cause iron minerals to oxidize or rust. This results in the red, orange or brown coloring. Areas where the rock is more colored can be places where the iron has been leached out by subsurface water, or when the iron oxide was never deposited. Red spots in the formations are iron concretions, where subsurface water has precipitated iron oxide around a nucleus in the sandstone. These concretions are more resistant to erosion than the other parts of the rock formations.
Most red rock formations are made up of the Aztec Sandstone. These formations can be composed of lithified sand dunes that formed in deserts. Lithification is the process of changing unconsolidated sediment into sedimentary rock. Massive cross-bedding, composed of wind deposits is a result of the shifting wind direction as seen in the rock formations. The red color of red rock formations is due to the presence of iron oxide or hematite. Exposure to these elements can cause iron minerals to oxidize or rust. This results in the red, orange or brown coloring. Areas where the rock is more colored can be places where the iron has been leached out by subsurface water, or when the iron oxide was never deposited. Red spots in the formations are iron concretions, where subsurface water has precipitated iron oxide around a nucleus in the sandstone. These concretions are more resistant to erosion than the other parts of the rock formations.