401. The Southern Extension of the Western Interior Seaway: Geology of Big Bend National Park and Trans-Pecos, Texas
Mon.-Sat., 29 Sept.-4 Oct.
Cosponsored by Big Bend National Park.
Dee Ann Cooper, University of Texas, Austin, Tex., +1-409-651-7619; Roger W. Cooper, Lamar University, Beaumont, Tex., +1-409-755-7244. Co-leaders are Dr. Brian Lock of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and Dr. Thomas M. Lehman of Texas Tech. University.
Price: US$595 (B, L, R, 5ON).
Big Bend National Park, in Trans-Pecos, Texas (that part of Texas "west" of the Pecos River), is bounded on three sides by the Rio Grande and Mexico. This high desert is the southernmost expression of the Rocky Mountains within the United States. For six days and five nights, field-trip participants will have a rare opportunity to examine this least-studied portion of the Western Interior Seaway while enjoying the remote and scenic splendor of one of the less-visited historic areas of the United States (mercury mining, Pancho Villa, Comanches, Judge Roy Bean, border raids, etc).
The road truly ends in Big Bend. The field trip will travel from Houston to Del Rio the first day, on to Alpine the second, and into Big Bend Country for two nights in cabins with kitchenettes in Terlingua-Study Butte. Between Del Rio and Alpine, the group will visit outcrops of the Del Rio and Buda (Cenomanian), Boquillas (Ernst Member), and Atco Chalk (Coniacian) formations. Two days will be spent examining the Buda, Boquillas (Eagle Ford and Austin equivalent), Aguja, and Javelina Formations in Big Bend National Park, including the Cenomanian-Turonian and Turonian-Coniacian Stage Boundaries.
Other units visited briefly include the Cretaceous Santa Elena and Del Rio Formations as well as select Tertiary igneous and sedimentary units and Paleozoic units in the Marathon Basin. The return trip will be along the border, re-crossing the Texas High Bridge over Seminole Canyon and the Lake Amistad National Recreation Area.
Two all-you-can-eat dinner buffets will be provide "cowboy"-style while in Terlingua in addition to listed meals. Participants will travel by van.
For further details email deeanncooper@yahoo.com.
Register at https://www.acsmeetings.org/registrations/