Explore the ancient geological forces that shaped Glacier National Park, from its primordial seabeds to the dramatic peaks carved by ice.
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Crown of the Continent Begins Here
This series, Mountains of Time, traces the geological story of Glacier National Park — from rocks older than most life on Earth to the glaciers reshaping them today.
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Rocks Older Than Complex Life Itself
The mountains around you are built from some of the oldest exposed sedimentary rock on Earth.
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Ancient Rock Riding on Top of Young
About 170 million years ago, a slab of rock roughly the size of a small state began sliding eastward.
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Ice Age Sculptors Shaped Every Valley
During the last ice age, glaciers here reached thicknesses of over three thousand feet — enough ice to bury a skyscraper.
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Billion-Year-Old Life Frozen in Stone
Some of the oldest evidence of life on Earth sits right here in Glacier National Park, preserved as stromatolites — layered, dome-shaped structures built by colonies of…
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5
Iron Painted These Mountains Two Colors
The striking reds and greens banding across Glacier's mountainsides come down to a single element — iron — and whether oxygen was present when these sediments were…
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