Paleonet: Western Interior Seaway Field Trip

[Dee Ann Cooper]

GSA National Meeting Field Trip (PREMEETING)    
September 29, 2008-October 4, 2008 

The Southern Extension of the Western Interior Seaway:
Geology of Big Bend National Park and Trans-Pecos,
Texas

Primary Leaders:
     Roger W. Cooper - Lamar University
     Dee Ann Cooper - University of Texas at Austin

Co-Leaders:
     Brian E. Lock - University of Louisiana -
Lafayette
     Thomas M. Lehman - Texas Tech University

Co-Sponsored by:  Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park is located in Trans-Pecos,
Texas (that part of Texas "west" of the Pecos River).
Bounded on three sides by the Rio Grande River 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, yet historic, parts 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 that
will be 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
back along the border, re-crossing the Texas High
Bridge over Seminole Canyon and the Lake Amistad
National Recreation Area. 



Dee Ann Cooper, BS, MS, PG
Phone: (409) 755-7244
Cell: (409 651-7619
Address: 17890 Nonie Lane, Lumberton, TX  77657
State of Texas Licensed Professional Geologist No. 3328
Research Fellow, Non-vertebrate Paleontology Lab., Texas Natural Science Center, University of Texas-Austin