Coal Vein Trail Post 9: Clinker
in
Theodore Roosevelt
Feel the red rock next to the post. It is locally called scoria, but its true name is clinker. Clinker is created when a burning coal seam bakes the rock layer above it. Baking rock is like putting clay into a kiln to make pottery - the rock hardens as it bakes. Because clinker is one of the hardest rocks in the badlands, it functions as a caprock atop many buttes. 

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Itineraries across USA