Field and Lab Methods Field Trip

Big Bend National Park, Texas
Spring Break 2006

Field and Lab Methods Class of 2006
Colin Campbell, Dr. Sarah Hanson, Dr. Forest (Rock) Haines, Lindsay Kastl, Andrea Gibbs, Jeremy McKinney, Rob Hillman, T.J. Brown,

You can click on the photos below to view them at a larger size.

Day 1. We drove and we drove and we drove. Then it got dark. We kept driving….Then it was morning.
Day 2. We were still driving….. We finally stopped that afternoon at the Alamo and then found our way to the campground at Amistead National Recreation Area.
Students are heading into the Alamo. And are extremely happy to be NOT driving!
Day 3. We measured several stratigtaphic sections and collected fossils along US 90 just east of Big Bend National Park.
Class examining the rocks at Prairie Canyon cut. Rock explains how to measure a section at Prairie Canyon Cut.
Rock points out nodule layers in the Del Rio formation. We set up camp at the Rio Grand Campground in Big Bend National Park
We made many friends at camp. These are just a few. On the left is a road runner and on the right is a peccary (more commonly called a javelina in the southwest). Although they look rather pig-like they belong to a different family of mammals.
Day 4. In the morning we hiked into Boquillas Canyon. The massive cliff walls are the Santa Elena Limestone and are cut by a normal fault (below left).
The cliff on the left is in the US and the one on the right is in Mexico. The River is the Rio Grande. Rob Hillman sits in a small cavern in the Santa Elena formation.
.Colin boot skiing down sand eroded from the Santa Elena formation. Lindsay and Jeremy followed Colin down the slope..
After our hike we took the rest of the morning off in at the Hot Springs in Big Bend National Park
Colin with Lindsay and Andrea When we got too hot from sitting in the hot springs we cooled off by jumping into Rio Grande River.
It was an unusually hot February with temperatures in the very high 90's so we were just happy to be wet!
Cool and refreshed the class receives instruction on how to complete the big mapping project that was to begin the next day in Big Bend National Park.
Day 5. We spent the morning mapping and measuring sections in Big Bend National Park. By afternoon the temperature was nearing 100F again so we fled to the hot springs.
Rock helping Andrea and Lindsay with their mapping project Sarah climbed up a ridge to look for the rest of the group. Jeremy and TJ are out there somewhere - she never saw them..
Unable to spot the guys, Sarah spent the rest of the morning enjoying the scenery, cactus and wildflowers. The purple flower is locoweed.
Rio Grande River Dinner at the campground
Day 6. We headed out in the morning toward Tornillo Creek.
West Tornillo Creek - Here we looked for fossils and sedimentary structures. These must have been really cool!
Day 7. The big hike to the South Rim in the Chisos Mountains.
View into Mexico from the South Rim trail View from the South Rim trail
The ash exposed in Tuff Canyon is the 23 Ma Delaho Fm Cerro Castelan. The lower light colored layers are ash and the upper darker layers are lava
Mule Ears are a set of eroded Tertiary stocks.

Volcanic spine located in the Delaho Tuff
After jumping in the water, we hiked into Santa Elena Canyon Terlingua Creek just below Santa Elena Canyon
Day 8. This day was spent measuring sections near Terlingua, TX
Although it took us a while to get there... I have no idea, but we liked the sign...
Students measure the Del Rio formation near a cinnebar mine.
After sections were completed, we started the long journey home...
Day 9. DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE