Geology[edit]

Mount Rushmore, showing the full size of the mountain and the scree of rocks from the sculpting and
construction.

Mount Rushmore is largely composed of granite. The memorial is carved on the northwest
margin of the Black Elk Peak granite batholith in the Black Hills of South Dakota, so the
geologic formations of the heart of the Black Hills region are also evident at Mount Rushmore.
The batholith magma intruded into the pre-existing mica schist rocks during the Proterozoic,
1.6 billion years ago.[38] Coarse grained pegmatitedikes are associated with the granite intrusion
of Black Elk Peak and are visibly lighter in color, thus explaining the light-colored streaks on
the foreheads of the presidents.
The Black Hills granites were exposed to erosion during the Neoproterozoic, but were later
buried by sandstone and other sediments during the Cambrian. Remaining buried throughout
the Paleozoic, they were re-exposed again during the Laramide orogeny around 70 million
years ago.[38] The Black Hills area was uplifted as an elongated geologic dome.[39] Subsequent
erosion stripped the granite of the overlying sediments and the softer adjacent schist. Some
schist does remain and can be seen as the darker material just below the sculpture of
Washington.
The tallest mountain in the region is Black Elk Peak (7,242 ft or 2,207 m). Borglum selected
Mount Rushmore as the site for several reasons. The rock of the mountain is composed of
smooth, fine-grained granite. The durable granite erodes only 1 inch (25 mm) every 10,000
years, thus was more than sturdy enough to support the sculpture and its long-term
exposure.[16] The mountain's height of 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level[6] made it suitable,
and because it faces the southeast, the workers also had the advantage of sunlight for most of
the day.

Soils[edit]
The Mount Rushmore area is underlain by well drained alfisol soils of very gravelly loam
(Mocmount) to silt loam (Buska) texture, brown to dark grayish brown.[40]

Climate[edit]
Mount Rushmore has a humid continental climate (Dwb in the Koeppen climate classification).
It is inside a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone of 5a, meaning certain plant life in the area can
withstand a low temperature of no less than 20 F (29 C).[41]
The two wettest months of the year are May and June. Orographic lift causes brief but strong
afternoon thunderstorms during the summer.[42]

[hide]Climate data for Mount Rushmore National Memorial, 1981-2011 no

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

 68 68 78 85 93 99 100 99
Record high F (C)
(20) (20) (26) (29) (34) (37) (38) (37)

36.3 36.7 43.2 50.7 60.7 71.0 79.1 78.1

Average high F (C)
(2.4) (2.6) (6.2) (10.4) (15.9) (21.7) (26.2) (25.6)

27.5 27.8 33.9 41.4 51.1 61.1 69.0 67.9

Daily mean F (C)
(2.5) (2.3) (1.1) (5.2) (10.6) (16.2) (20.6) (19.9)

18.7 19.0 24.6 32.0 41.6 51.3 58.9 57.7

Average low F (C)
(7.4) (7.2) (4.1) (0) (5.3) (10.7) (14.9) (14.3)

Record low F (C)