Why Was Mount Rushmore Made Of Granite

The presidential trail a walking trail and boardwalk starts at grandview terrace and travels through the forests to the sculptor s studio now a museum with information about the construction of the monument and the tools used by.

Why was mount rushmore made of granite.

The granite remains from the construction of mount rushmore are still visible below the heads of the presidents. How mount rushmore became mount rushmore the south dakota landmark has drawn criticism over the land it occupies the main sculptor behind it and the legacies of the men it memorializes. Mount rushmore includes the faces of american presidents george washington thomas jefferson abraham lincoln and theodore roosevelt. In fact granite erodes roughly 1 inch every 10 000 years which is great news for this piece of american history.

The granite is a very hard rock and the mica schist is much softer. After the honeycombing the workers smoothed the surface of the faces with a hand facer or bumper tool. 450 000 tons of rock was removed during the construction. Mount rushmore is located in the black hills of keystone south dakota.

Mount rushmore national memorial is centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of mount rushmore in the black hills in keystone south dakota sculptor gutzon borglum created the sculpture s design and oversaw the project s execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son lincoln borglum. Sculptor gutzon borglum created the sculpture s design and oversaw the project s execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son lincoln borglum. In this final step the bumper tool would even up the granite creating a surface as smooth as a sidewalk. The sculpture of four famous presidents george washington thomas jefferson theodore roosevelt and abraham lincoln was carved into the granite rock face over many decades.

What you see today. The sculpture features the 60 foot 18 m heads of presidents george washington. The granite was once molten rock and the mica schist was formed as a result of the heat and pressure exerted by the molten rock. The two stories of the rocks at mount rushmore the origin of the rocks and the creation of the current topography are as different as the rock types found here at the mountain.

Although construction began in 1927 it took 14 years to carve this monument. The good thing about mount rushmore is that granite erodes very slowly so this monument is going to loom above the black hills for a long long time.