At the posted coordinates, you will find a view to the beautiful Guadalupe Mountains.
The Western Escarpment
The scene before you illustrates the geologic history of a truly unique mountain range. On the horizon is the Western Escarpment of the Guadalupe Mountains, one of the best exposed geologic cross sections in the world. All of the formations (mappable geologic units) exposed in the escarpment are marine carbonates (limestones) and siliciclastics (sandstones, siltstones, and shales), representing depositional and erosional events that occurred from 262 to 252 million years ago.
They tell a story of the formation of an ancient reef, which today is considered one of the best examples of a fossil reef anywere in the world. Water, now extrememly scarce, once covered this land as an inland sea during the Middle Permian Period. Sediments, which now make up the different rock formations, were deposited on a shallow marine shelf out to a deeper marine basin. Water depth and sea level fluctuations, likely linked to Permian glacial events, caused the vertical and lateral changes in the rock types and formations. The siliciclastics (Brushy Canyon, Cherry Canyon, and Bell Canyon) were deposited during periods of low sea level when the sands were transported across the shelf to the basin. The carbonates were deposited during periods of high sea level; both deep marine (Bone Springs, Cutoff) and shallower water shelf, reef, and forereef deposits (Victorio Peak, Goat Seep, Capitan) are present.
The sheer cliffs of the Western Escarpment were formed in the last six million years as the long buried Permian rocks were uplifted along a fault zone that forms the eastern boundary of the Salt Basin. What you are gazing at is a vivid example of the forces which form the topography of our planet.
The Guadalupe Mountains reach their highest point at Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas, with an elevation of 8,751 feet (2,667 m). The range lies southeast of the Sacramento Mountains and east of the Brokeoff Mountains. The mountain range extends north-northwest and northeast from Guadalupe Peak in Texas into New Mexico. The northeastern extension ends about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Carlsbad, near White's City and Carlsbad Caverns National Park; the southwest tip ends with El Capitan about 90 miles (140 km) east of El Paso. The mountains rise more than 3,000 feet (910 m) above the arid floor of the Chihuahuan Desert. with an elevation of 8,751 feet (2,667 m). The Guadalupe Mountains are surrounded by the South Plains to the east and north, Delaware Mountains to the south, and Sacramento Mountains to the west.
The northwestern extension, bounded by a dramatic escarpment known as "The Rim", extends much further into New Mexico, to near the Sacramento Mountains. The range is bounded on the north by Four Mile Canyon; on the east by the valley of the Pecos River; and on the west by Piñon Creek, Big Dog Canyon, Valley Canyon, Middle Dog Canyon and West Dog Canyon. Much of the range is built from the ancient Capitán Reef that formed at the margins of a shallow sea during the Permian Period. As the range is built up almost entirely of limestone, upland areas have little or no surface water. The only significant surface water is McKittrick Creek, in McKittrick Canyon, which emerges from the eastern side of the massif, just south of the New Mexico border. Elevations at the base of the range vary from 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above sea level on the western side to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) on the east. Several peaks on the southern end exceed 8,000 feet (2,400 m).
Throughout the last thousands of years, the Guadalupe Mountains have a long tumultuous history. Archaeological evidence has shown that people lived over 10,000 years ago in and among the many caves and alcoves. The first humans to live here were hunter-gathers that followed large game and collected editable vegetation. Artifacts that support this include projectile points, baskets, pottery, and rock art.
More information can be found HERE!
To log this find, look out at the amazing range and answer the following questions:
1. You should be able to notice different layers of mineral in the mountain range. How many layers can you spot, and how can you tell that they aren't the same (i.e. color, texture)? Using the height of the highest peak, how much vertical distance would you say each layer takes up (in feet)?
2. From this view, how many peaks can you see, and which peak is the highest (with peak #1 being the rightmost peak)?
3. Name the minerals that reside under the rightmost peak, El Capitan. Describe how these minerals relate to your answer to question 1.
4. What mineral resides at the highest elevation in this range, and why is this mineral residing at this peak only? You may need to read into some of the geological history of this range to answer some of this question.
Also, feel free to post a cool picture of yourself with the great mountain range. However, you must send an e-mail with the answers to the above questions, or your log will be deleted. Happy caching!