Mountains, trees and weather
What's special about that mountain's rocks?
Ring Mountain's serpentine rock. A true story near Corte Madera, CA, told for kids 5–8.
The Ring Mountain story, read aloud
Look out the window at Ring Mountain, the grassy hill on the Tiburon Peninsula. Its two tops are made of a special rock called serpentine. So why does a flower grow up there and nowhere else in the whole world? Here's the whoa.
Serpentine rock is packed with something called magnesium. When the rock slowly crumbles into dirt, that dirt gets a very unusual mix inside it. It has too much of some things and not enough of the good stuff plants need, like a pizza with tons of crust and almost no cheese. Pretty strange pizza!
Rare plants live on this hill. One flower, the Tiburon mariposa lily, grows on Ring Mountain and nowhere else on Earth. Can you find the mountain's two tops? Count them with me: one bump, two bumps!
Quiz the back seat
What is Ring Mountain's rock packed with?
Show the answer
Magnesium. Right! Serpentine rock is packed with magnesium, and it makes unusual dirt. Serpentine is also California's state rock!
Ring Mountain facts for kids
- Ring Mountain's twin summits are made of serpentinite, a rock very high in magnesium.
- Serpentine soil has unusual chemistry, and rare and endangered plants live on Ring Mountain.
- The Tiburon mariposa lily grows naturally only on Ring Mountain.
Questions kids ask about Ring Mountain
What rock is Ring Mountain made of?
Ring Mountain's two tops are made of serpentine, a rock full of magnesium.
Why do rare plants grow on Ring Mountain?
Serpentine makes strange soil that most plants can't handle, so a few tough rare plants have the hill to themselves.
What flower grows only on Ring Mountain?
The Tiburon mariposa lily grows on Ring Mountain and nowhere else on Earth.
For grown-ups
Written with AI from public sources, then checked claim by claim against the sources below before it was published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_Mountain_(California)
- baynature.org/magazine/spring2007/ring-mountain-rocks
- audubon.org/california/news/unexpected-wealth-of-serpentine-habitats
- cnpsmarin.org/the-road-to-ring-mountain
- calflora.org/app/ipl/ipx?loc_id=gpi189
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calochortus_tiburonensis
- capitolmuseum.ca.gov/state-symbols/rock-serpentine
- parksconservancy.org/article/serpentinite-california-state-rock-serpentine-climate-change
More stories in Corte Madera
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Between stories: 25 road trip games for kids · Road trip bingo cards · Road trip trivia · Christmas light scavenger hunt · Christmas trivia
Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).