A01_black_mesa_4Z5A5031_1600 Black Mesa near Kenton, OK where Okie Tex Star Party was held. Basalt from volcanic activity in the Neogene Period (23-2.5 million years ago) overlies sedimentary layers of sandstone from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods (200-66 million years ago).
A02_tracks_4Z5A4974_900 Dinosaur tracks in sandstone These tracks were formed by the footprints of either a small theropod (e.g., Allosaurus) or ornithopod bipedal dinosaur in the Jurassic period (150 million years ago). The sandstone layer was uncovered by water erosion in a creek bed near the entrance to the Black Mesa Summit trail outside Kenton, OK
A03_weathered_sandstone_4Z5A4981_1600 Weathered and eroded sandstone layers from the Cretaceous period on the valley base of Black Mesa near Kenton, OK where the Okie-Tex Star Party was held.
A04_NM_TLH_4Z5A5038_1400 Texas Longhorn cattle on NM Highway 406 after crossing into New Mexico after driving from Kenton, OK
A05_texasLH_4Z5A5040_900 Texas Longhorn on NM Highway 406.
A06_manzano_folded_4Z5A5050_1600 Uplifted, tilted and folded sedimentary strata in the southern end of the Manzano Mountains next to US Hwy 60.
B01_Q_sign_4Z5A5051_1200 Sign at entry to the Quebradas Backcountry Byway outside Socorro, NM.
B02_magdalena_4Z5A5054_1600 Quebradas National Back Country Byway above Socorro, NM. Magdalena Mountains with Socorro Peak to the left and Strawberry Peak to the right are Paleozoic sedimentary layers with volcanic outcoups from 36 to 2.4 million years ago.
B04_hornedlizard_s1_4Z5A5059_1600 Horned toad sunning himself on weathered limestone surrounded by debris of limestone and shale on the Quebradas byway at stop 1.
B05_s1_4Z5A5059_1600 Creek bed and pond in limestone with trees. Valley below Quebradas byway. Limestone is probably Madera group limestone deposits from the Pennsylvanian Period (300-323 million years ago.)
B06_s1_4Z5A5059_1600 Pennsylvanian period limestone derived from marine life has veins of calcite in a creek valley below stop 1 on the Quebradas Byway.
B07_quebradas_4Z5A5105 Limestone, shale and sandstone strata above the Quebradas Back Country Byway.
B08_ir_PA110457 Infrared photo of brush, strata, sky and clouds along the Quebradas National Back Country Byway near stop 2.
B09_site2_4Z5A5085 Stop 2 along the Quebradas Back Country Byway shows strata of sandstone, siltstone and shale from the Lower Permian Period Abo Formation. These strata formed 299-284 million years ago from the ancestral Rockies uplifts. They are non-marine, and the red color is due to iron deposits in the form of hematite.
B10_quebradas_s4_4Z5A5101_1000 Folded sandstone at stop 4 on the Quebradas Back Country Byway. These folded layers are an example of "tombstone topography" from the Meseta Blanca Member of the Yeso formation (Permian Period formation ~ 270 million years ago.) Folding may have resulted from the Laramide orogeny of the early Tertiary Age (80-35 million years ago).
B11_s4_4Z5A5091_1400 Sunlight reflections off quartz-rich sandstone of Permian period formations. Quartz-rich sediments probably originated from erosion and deposition from the Ancestral Rockies.
B12_s4_4Z5A5097_1400 Limestone deposits of marine origin at stop 4 on the Quebradas Back Country Byway.
B13_stop10_4Z5A5106_1600 Stop 10 at the end of the Quebradas Back Country Byway. Looking East towards the Oscura Mountain range and Mockingbird Gap.
B14_american_avocet_PA110599_1000 American Avocet at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, NM.
B15_Black_Phoebe_PA110648_1400 Black Phoebe (tyrant flycatcher) at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge.
C01_cavern_4Z5A5114_1600 Natural Entrance to Carlsbad Cavern. As you descend down the pathway into the cavern, there is an overwhelming odor of ammonia from the bat quano.
C02_cavern_4Z5A5122_1600 The natural pathway descends 750 feet to the largest cavern sections giving an opportunity to walk more the 1.5 miles underground in interconnected caverns.
C03_cavern_4Z5A5148_1600 Photographs don't do justice to the caverns. You have the experience the caverns. This is one photograph taken with lighting in one of the largest rooms accessible via elevator from the surface. If you can, walk down.
C04_wlc_IMG_0795_600 iPhone photo of me after hiking through over1.5 miles of trails through Carlsbad Cavern.
C05_lstrata_4Z5A5173_1400 Limestone strata in Carlsbad Cavern National Park. These strata were formed from the same Permian Period reef that formed around an inland sea that also formed the mountains in Guadelupe Mountains National Park.
C06_liths_4Z5A5170_1000 Pisoliths in limestone on the Walnut Canyou Desert Drive in Carlsbad Cavern National Park. Pisoliths are concentric layers of carbonate that formed around grains of sand in the reef.
C07_lime_siltstone_4Z5A5188_1400 Boundry layer of limestone above and siltstone below on a road cut in Carlsbad Cavern National Park.
D01_guadelupe_4Z5A5205_1600 Guadelupe Mountains above the Delaware Basin with US Highway 62.; The basin is the previous floor of a large inlet of Permian sea.; The mountains are remnants of the tropical Capitan reef which formed 250 million years ago.
D02_guad_PA130722_1600 Guadelupe Mountains at Park Information Center.
D03_McKittrick_PA130731_1600 McKittrick Canyon trail offers a 7 mile hike up through sedimentary layers formed from the Capitan reef from the Permian Period.
D04_muledeer_PA130737_1600 Mule deer along the McKittrick Canyon Trail.
D05_yucca_PA130732_900 Wildflowers and yucca on the McKittrick Canyon trail.
D06_mckittrick_PA130775 McKittrick Canyon showing the top strata of what used to be a tropical reef during the Permian Period.
D07_fossil_PA130796_1600 Fossil-rich limestone strata along the trail in McKittrick Canyon.
D08_fosstrat_A130795_1400 Fossil-rich limestone strata in McKittrick Canyon.
D09_coral_PA130725_1200 Coral fossils in limestone. McKittrick Canyon.
D10_brachiopod_coral_PA130785 Brachiopod and coral fossils from the Permian Period Capitan Reef, McKittrick Canyon.
D11_seam_PA130727 Calcite vein in limestone. McKittrick Canyon, Guadelupe Mountains National Park
D12_capitan_4Z5A5197 Capitan peak becomes visible as clouds lift in the afternoon. The is the most prominent part of the Guadelupe mountains that formed from Capitan reef, a large tropical reef surrounding a Permian Period sea whose floor now is the Delaware Basin.
D13_evaporate_4Z5A5200_1400 Castile Formation Evaporate form successive dark and light layers of CaSO4 (anhydrate) and CaSO4-2H20 that mark intervening periods of dry, low humidity times (lighter areas) and dark areas when there was greater humidity, more water and growth of algae occurred. All of this was in shallow, high salinity pools. Each dark and light band pair is called a varve. State line outcrop, NM.
D14_evaporate_4Z5A5199_1600 Interwoven and wavy bands of evaporate at State line outcrop, New Mexico represent disturbances in the Castile formation resulting from compression forces that disturbed the Delaware Basin after the evaporates formed.
D15_midland_basic_sunrise_4Z5A5232_1600 Midland Basin sunrise with oil pump jacks as I depart Texas for home. Hydralic fracturing has brought boom times again to West Texas.
D16_midland_basin_4Z5A5252_1600 Midland Basin sunrise with oil pump jacks and natural gas flares contributing to ground haze in early morning.
