Ramparts of a Volcanic Past, Part 2: The Other Side of Cerro Castellan, Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA

(Updated May 19, 2024)

Looking east-southeastward from Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. This spot is a straight-line distance of about 3.6 mi (5.8 km) from Cerro Castellan. I have zoomed in quite a bit to get as much detail of the mountain as possible.

From a geological standpoint the best place to examine this layered, extrusive wedding cake is from the northeast, on the Tuff Canyon rim. For that vantagepoint, see Part 1 of this series. There you face the mountain's projecting rhyolite feeder dike and can clearly see the Wasp Spring Member pyroclastic layers, as well as exposures of the Bee Mountain Basalt below them.

On this side, however, Cerro Castellan is a very prominent and colorful sight as far away as the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon. As you approach it from the southwest, as I am here, it looms larger and larger until you drive past it on its western flank, in an area of ghostly white Chisos Formation tuff. This locale is famous for its volcanic neck that looks like a fossil tree—a feature I will soon show.

Separately, what appears to be a gravel ridge in the foreground is actually one of the various Quaternary terraces of coarse-gravel alluvium that flank the Rio Grande. The big river and the Mexican border are just 0.3 mi (0.5 km) south (right) of here. The bridge is where the Maxwell Drive passes over a draw (arroyo) just before that small intermittent stream meets the Rio Grande.

If I'm reading the 2011 US Geological Survey park bedrock map correctly, the terrace shown here equates to the one annotated Qwi2, described as "probably middle and late Pleistocene in age." It stands 18-25 m (59-82 ft) above the current Rio Grande floodplain.

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

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

Taken on: March 13, 2002

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Camera: MAKER NAME 96660, f/1.8, 1/44 sec, 2.8mm, ISO 50 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	MAKER NAME 96660
Aperture:	f/1.8
Exposure Time:	0.023 sec (1/44)
Focal Length:	2.8mm
ISO:	50
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Metering Mode:	Average
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Inpaint
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