2013
Heading south from Carlsbad Caverns across New Mexico’s southern border with Texas, along side Guadalupe National Park’s 8,749′ Guadalupe Mountain, the highest point in Texas stands stark against the flat landscape of the Chihuahuan Desert .
250 million years ago, all of the continents were joined together forming the supercontinent Pangea, which was surrounded by a great ocean. Of the three arms of The Permian Basin – the Marfa, Delaware and Midland basins – the Delaware Basin contained the Delaware Sea over what is now Western Texas and Southeastern New Mexico.
170 million years later, tectonic compression along the western margin of North America caused the region encompassing west Texas and southern New Mexico to slowly uplift. Then 60 million years later a transition in tectonic events initiated the formation of steep faults along the western side of the Delaware Basin. Movement along these faults forced a long-buried portion of the Capitan Reef to rise several thousand more feet. Erosion uncovered the more resistant fossil reef forming the modern Guadalupe Mountains, which now tower above the desert floor as it once loomed over the floor of the Delaware Sea.
Continuing south beyond the Guadalupe Mountains, TX #54 meanders between two distant lesser mountain ranges, which contrasted against the Chihuahuan Desert, reveal beautifully subtle profiles of the Sierra Diegas to the east, and the Sierra Diablos to the west. Their soft colors are further muted by deceptive distance. As a photographer, I’m forever seeking contrasts in shape, color, texture, and distance, that the sunlight’s direction will further emphasize either through highlighting color hues and/or through the creation of shadow patterns.
