| Field Trip Description: The first tier of stops will focus on soils formed over Castile gyprock. We will view the State Line road cut exposure of the Castile formation, and the Elcor, Hollebeke, and Pokorny pedons. Include discussions of Doolittle GPR observations, and rule-based raster mapping efforts. For a normal soil with some gypsum, Dillyhunt which is a much more extensive soil. John Hawley will discuss the Gypsum Plain geomorphology. A Vertisols, a clayey extremisol, A Torripsamments, a sandy extremisol Saragossa series type location near Pecos: a Haplocalcids with a petrogypsic horizon, along William Sexton soil transect A petrocalcic horizon for the purpose of comparison with petrogypsic horizon Reeves pedon (Calcigypsids) from Reeves county, Orla pedons (saline Haplogypsid) from Reeves County and Hudspeth County, Hoban pedon (Haplocalcids with gypsic horizon below 40 inches) from Reeves McCarran soil mapped in Ward County. Jerry Rives infiltration study of gypsum playa in Midland County, David Jaynes or William Sexton pedons in Salt Basin, Culberson and Hudspeth Counties will be visited. David Wilkins research on Pleistocene beach ridges of Lake King Felicia Boyd and Charles Kreitler research on Salt Basin hydrogeology will be part of the field trip. Lisa Goetz research on Salt Basin Graben Quaternary faults and desiccation cracks. Discuss the impacts of El Paso Water Utilities land purchase for water rights on irrigated cropland in Dell City area. Plan to arrive in Midland, TX on 2 October 2008 and depart from Midland to Houston, TX on 5 October 2008. |