Hikers, birders and Santa Fe Trail buffs head to Point of Rocks in extreme southwest Kansas — a key landmark for pioneers — for the wildflowers, wildlife and wagon ruts.
But many a geologist has fixated instead on the mysterious streak of exposed red sandstone at the base of the famous rock formation.
For more than a century they’ve debated, how old are these so-called “red beds?"
Finally, a team of Kansas University researchers applying new dating technology believes it has answered that question with certainty.

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