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Vedauwoo
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== Overview == [[File:Vedauwoo Wyoming.jpg|thumb|Granite rock formations at Vedauwoo]] The 1.4 billion year old Sherman Granite is the rock formation that makes up Vedauwoo's characteristic [[Hoodoo (geology)|hoodoos]] and outcrops. The formation represent one of the oldest that outcrops in Wyoming (but it still more than a billion years younger than the rocks of the [[Geology of the Grand Teton area|Tetons]]). It is exposed at the surface around Vedauwoo due to the uplift of the [[Laramie Mountains]] that began around 70 million years ago. Younger layers of rock and sediment have been progressively eroded in process that continues to this day. The hard granite of Vedauwoo is made of large crystals of [[quartz]], [[orthoclase]], [[plagioclase]], and some [[mica]] and is more erosion-resistant, resulting in wind and water-sculpted forms. Just east of Vedauwoo, along I-80, sandstone cliffs are formed by the [[Permian]]-age [[Fountain Formation]], which is about 300 million years old. The ancient sand dunes of a broad desert met with the salty waters of a shallow, epicontinental sea, producing examples of [[Cross-bedding|cross-stratification]]. Fossils of sea urchins, snails, and sea lilies can be found in some of these rocks. Wildlife abounds in and around Vedauwoo with Wyoming ground squirrels, [[mule deer]], [[elk]], [[moose]], [[yellow-bellied marmot]]s, least chipmunks, [[pronghorn]], [[wild turkey]]s, [[badger]], [[prairie dog]], [[coyote]], and [[mountain lion]]s all calling the area home. [[Beaver]] are found in some of the creeks, where their dams and lodges form cover for a variety of aquatic insects, frogs, and fish. [[Golden eagle|Golden]] and [[bald eagle]]s can be seen soaring on the thermals alongside hawks, [[crow]], [[raven]]s, [[turkey vulture]], and numerous [[songbird]]s. Anglers find [[brook trout]] in the streams and ponds but over the past decade or so the populations of these fish have dropped noticeably.
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