Geology of the East Bourland Mountain Flatirons Locale, Part 3: Brewster County, Texas, USA

Taken at the same spot along US 385 as the previous photo in this set, but this time we're facing north-northwestward.

In this direction the steeply dipping shelf of white, highly resistant Caballos Novaculite seems to have been caught in the act of slowly turning into flatirons. Note the gap, formed by the development of a gully, a little right of center. It has already detached the aboveground part of one section of the shelf.

While the ridges here are upheld by tough chert strata of the Devonian Caballos Novaculite and Ordovician Maravillas Formation, the foreground is underlain by softer shales and sandstones of the Mississippian-to-Pennsylvanian Tesnus Formation. It in turn is overlain by a blanket of much younger Pleistocene alluvium.

And on the surface is an excellent example of desert pavement, the soil's shinglelike covering of flattened rocks.

Isn't it remarkable how much there is to see and learn from one photo? And I'm sure I've just scratched the surface here. But I'd rather spend my time meditating on a relatively nondescript place like this rather than gaze at prettified eye-candy produced by "nature photographers" who don't even try to understand or identify what they're showing.

We can't all be geologists or botanists or naturalists. But at least we can provide a little locator information—and even use our own photos for a little bit of self-education. Picture that!

To see the other photos and descriptions in this series, visit my Natural History: Big Bend & All of Trans-Pecos Texas album.

Taken in: United States / Texas / Brewster (show map)

Taken on: March 11, 2002

Tags:

geology

bedrock

Caballos_Novaculite

Maravillas_Formation

Trans-Pecos

Texas

Big_Bend_Region

stone

rock

chert « less

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Camera: MAKER NAME 96660, ISO 50 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	MAKER NAME 96660
ISO:	50
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Metering Mode:	Average
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
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