Mark P Betts
Dr. Greg Mack lectures at Point of Rocks
This stop on our field trip was to look at the 7 ash and sediment deposits of the late Eocene Bell Top formation.
Too much geology, however, usually results in yawns, blank stares, and in this case, flipping to next photo on your Flickr stream.
So, instead, I will point out some historical features in this photograph while Dr. Mack lectures on the Bell Top (it was a really good lecture!).
Our cars and vans are parked just above the Panama hat on the gentleman on the right side of photograph (by the way, I have known him since elementary school). Two low hills separate the cars from the famous Jornada del Muerto. The Jornada has a very long and interesting history that stretches all the way back to the Conquistadores of the 1500's. The mountains on the left horizon are the Caballo Mountains and the Rio Grande river flows just on the other side of them.
The river makes a jog to the west and the Jornada represented a slightly shorter route from the El Paso de Norte (El Paso in Texas) to the capital of Nuevo Mexico, Santa Fe. Most caravans would stock up on food, water, and feed and head up the flat Jornada, which has none of these items. I would have just kept by the river and arrived a little later. Point of Rocks was a landmark on the route.
There are several versions of how this flat basin got its name and what the name actually translates to. North of here is a very small community named Aleman. It is supposedly named for a German immigrant who was fleeing the Inquisition and died in this harsh desert in the late 1700's. The northern end of the Jornada ususlly was the Pueblo and surrounding community that the Spanish named Socorro which translates to "aid" or "assistance". I am surprised it wasn't named "Gracias de Dios".
Linkin Park wrote a song/introduction named "Jornada del Muerto" that was included on their "Thousand Suns" album because the Trinity site is located at the northern end of the Jornada.
The newest chapter in the history of the Jornada is the construction of the Virgin Galactic Spaceport just north of the Point of Rocks. Let's just hope that it doesn't live up to the "Muerto" moniker...
D0A9634
PS The geologic map under Dr. Mack's arm covers the area seen in the previous photograph.
Dr. Greg Mack lectures at Point of Rocks
This stop on our field trip was to look at the 7 ash and sediment deposits of the late Eocene Bell Top formation.
Too much geology, however, usually results in yawns, blank stares, and in this case, flipping to next photo on your Flickr stream.
So, instead, I will point out some historical features in this photograph while Dr. Mack lectures on the Bell Top (it was a really good lecture!).
Our cars and vans are parked just above the Panama hat on the gentleman on the right side of photograph (by the way, I have known him since elementary school). Two low hills separate the cars from the famous Jornada del Muerto. The Jornada has a very long and interesting history that stretches all the way back to the Conquistadores of the 1500's. The mountains on the left horizon are the Caballo Mountains and the Rio Grande river flows just on the other side of them.
The river makes a jog to the west and the Jornada represented a slightly shorter route from the El Paso de Norte (El Paso in Texas) to the capital of Nuevo Mexico, Santa Fe. Most caravans would stock up on food, water, and feed and head up the flat Jornada, which has none of these items. I would have just kept by the river and arrived a little later. Point of Rocks was a landmark on the route.
There are several versions of how this flat basin got its name and what the name actually translates to. North of here is a very small community named Aleman. It is supposedly named for a German immigrant who was fleeing the Inquisition and died in this harsh desert in the late 1700's. The northern end of the Jornada ususlly was the Pueblo and surrounding community that the Spanish named Socorro which translates to "aid" or "assistance". I am surprised it wasn't named "Gracias de Dios".
Linkin Park wrote a song/introduction named "Jornada del Muerto" that was included on their "Thousand Suns" album because the Trinity site is located at the northern end of the Jornada.
The newest chapter in the history of the Jornada is the construction of the Virgin Galactic Spaceport just north of the Point of Rocks. Let's just hope that it doesn't live up to the "Muerto" moniker...
D0A9634
PS The geologic map under Dr. Mack's arm covers the area seen in the previous photograph.