Part 1 and Part 2 were posted on prior days. [I present these memories for the sake of science education and as a way to encourage other folks to chronicle influential events and time periods in their past.]
University of Texas-El Paso - Geology, Geography, Geophysics, Geochemistry (1977 - 1990)
As I was finishing up my B.S. degree at Georgia Southern, our professors had told us to "leave the southeast and see some different geology". I applied to 4 or 5 middle-sized Geology grad schools (with reasonable tuitions), in other parts of the country, e.g., Carbondale, IL; Rolla, MO; Bozeman, MT; Pocatello, ID; El Paso, TX ...
Perhaps because of my 1973 and 1974 western travels, I was biased towards the Midwest or West. Likely because my GPA was wounded by the Math, Physics, and Chemistry courses I HAD to take (and by my sometimes wayward ways), the University of Texas-El Paso was the only one to accept me. (After hearing later winter weather reports, especially about Bozeman and Pocatello, I was glad that El Paso was my new residence.)
The exact date of my arrival in El Paso has been forgotten, but it was a few days before registration. Other than my Dad giving me the name of one of his Army buddies, I knew not a single person in the city.
Other than snow covering I-20 somewhere west of Fort Worth and some worrisome moments on U.S. 78 in extreme west Georgia, the journey was fairly routine. I rolled into town on a late afternoon and stayed at a motel on North Mesa Street. The next morning, I checked in with the Geology Department, just to let them know I was around.
How I managed to find that tiny, basement apartment at 1201 1/2 Randolph Street, on that first afternoon is an enduring mystery. It was only $85/month and I was pleased with my success.
Spring Semester of 1977 turned out well, with a 3.6 average, including "A's" in Geomorphology and Stratigraphy. I had made friends with some of my classmates and my joining the Beer Can Collectors had added some more friends. The biggest surprise was in the dust storms that seemed to accompany each passing weather front.
My first Summer in El Paso was occupied by a 10-week Geology Field Camp, which entailed an intense introduction to the local geology (for the visiting students), reviews of geologic-mapping methods, and an intense introduction (for me) to the dry heat of the Chihuahuan Desert. After the end of the fieldwork, there was a 10-day field trip through parts of the Four Corners states (NM, AZ, UT, and CO).
The exact date of my arrival in El Paso has been forgotten, but it was a few days before registration. Other than my Dad giving me the name of one of his Army buddies, I knew not a single person in the city.
Other than snow covering I-20 somewhere west of Fort Worth and some worrisome moments on U.S. 78 in extreme west Georgia, the journey was fairly routine. I rolled into town on a late afternoon and stayed at a motel on North Mesa Street. The next morning, I checked in with the Geology Department, just to let them know I was around.
How I managed to find that tiny, basement apartment at 1201 1/2 Randolph Street, on that first afternoon is an enduring mystery. It was only $85/month and I was pleased with my success.
Spring Semester of 1977 turned out well, with a 3.6 average, including "A's" in Geomorphology and Stratigraphy. I had made friends with some of my classmates and my joining the Beer Can Collectors had added some more friends. The biggest surprise was in the dust storms that seemed to accompany each passing weather front.
My first Summer in El Paso was occupied by a 10-week Geology Field Camp, which entailed an intense introduction to the local geology (for the visiting students), reviews of geologic-mapping methods, and an intense introduction (for me) to the dry heat of the Chihuahuan Desert. After the end of the fieldwork, there was a 10-day field trip through parts of the Four Corners states (NM, AZ, UT, and CO).
After the course was over, I gave a ride back to Atlanta to a field camp classmate from the University of South Carolina (that I failed to keep in touch with). We took turns driving the 1,500 miles straight-through and I dropped him off at the Atlanta Greyhound station 38 hours later. My only request (demand?) of him was that we take the southern route (I-10 to I-59 to I-20), so I could pick up some Shiner Beer and Dixie Beer. That route was about 100 miles longer, but when you don't sleep anyway, what is two more hours? It also gave me a good first-look at the Edwards Plateau Cretaceous limestones.
Due to continued distractions, I did OK in grad school, though a few of my grades should have been better. I had been a "late bloomer", sometimes lacking in self-confidence. When I fell in love for the first time in mid-1977 (and it crashed and burned in early 1979, I took it way too hard and dropped out of grad school). That included abandoning my original Thesis project in the Eagle Mts., Hudspeth County, TX.
[Walking away from grad school was a mistake, but as I fully intended to return, I didn't entertain any thoughts of returning to Georgia. In the interim, I did odd jobs, bought and sold beer collectibles, and bought and sold mineral specimens when I traveled.]
Resurrecting My Thesis
My original Thesis project had been in the Eagle Mts., as recounted here, here, and here. My crashed and burned love life interrupted that one.
My new Thesis, starting about 1985, was of some mystery craters in the Quaternary Aden Basalts, WNW of El Paso, within the Potrillo Volcanic Field in southern Doña Ana County, NM. The craters had been shown to several visiting Geologists, including the respected Dr. Aaron Waters, who stated (in the early 1980s), that he didn't know what they were. Nowadays, we know them - from Hawaiian research - as Lava Tube Shatter Rings (Tim Orr, USGS).
Within the fissure-erupted Aden Volcanic Field, in the NW part of the flows is Aden Crater, a late-stage small shield volcano (the crater of which is about 2,000 feet across). [Some photos are labeled for educational purposes.]
The five "craters" associated with Aden Crater are characterized by a roughly-circular to lobate encircling boulder rampart, with a collapsed inner floor.
As we had discovered nothing in the mid-1980's literature search, we had no idea of what to call them. My interpretation was that the boulder ramparts were heaped up by explosive activity, followed by lava lake filling of the craters. After eruptions ceased, the lava lakes collapsed, yielding the present morphology.
[Walking away from grad school was a mistake, but as I fully intended to return, I didn't entertain any thoughts of returning to Georgia. In the interim, I did odd jobs, bought and sold beer collectibles, and bought and sold mineral specimens when I traveled.]
It wasn't until I met my first wife Marla in early 1983, that I truly had a focus to my life and when I re-entered grad school, my grades were much better. (During my second time around, my earlier courses started to "expire" due to a 5-year limit, so I had to retake them while getting married, adopting our first child, and working part-time.)
Resurrecting My Thesis
My original Thesis project had been in the Eagle Mts., as recounted here, here, and here. My crashed and burned love life interrupted that one.
My new Thesis, starting about 1985, was of some mystery craters in the Quaternary Aden Basalts, WNW of El Paso, within the Potrillo Volcanic Field in southern Doña Ana County, NM. The craters had been shown to several visiting Geologists, including the respected Dr. Aaron Waters, who stated (in the early 1980s), that he didn't know what they were. Nowadays, we know them - from Hawaiian research - as Lava Tube Shatter Rings (Tim Orr, USGS).
Within the fissure-erupted Aden Volcanic Field, in the NW part of the flows is Aden Crater, a late-stage small shield volcano (the crater of which is about 2,000 feet across). [Some photos are labeled for educational purposes.]
The five "craters" associated with Aden Crater are characterized by a roughly-circular to lobate encircling boulder rampart, with a collapsed inner floor.
Figure 1. Index map of NW Aden Basalts. (Perhaps due to a buried fault, the "Aden Rift" makes an almost-90 degree angle to the East.) Craters #3, #4, and #5 were on this second segment.
Figure 2. Aden Crater (view from North).
Figure 3. View of "Aden Rift", upon which Craters #1 and #2 rest. (View is from the slopes of Aden Crater.)
Figure 4. Aerial photo of craters (Lava Tube Shatter Rings) #1 and #2, approximately 1 km (S 65 E) from Aden Crater. (Photo by Tom Rollag & Assoc.) Due to the size, Crater #1 was selected for more detailed descriptions.
Figure 5. Descriptive schematic of Crater #1.
As we had discovered nothing in the mid-1980's literature search, we had no idea of what to call them. My interpretation was that the boulder ramparts were heaped up by explosive activity, followed by lava lake filling of the craters. After eruptions ceased, the lava lakes collapsed, yielding the present morphology.
Figure 6.
Figure 7. In limited locations, the margins are marked by arched basalt flows.
There are plenty of interesting volcanic features to see in the area. This tiny Spatter Vent is just outside Crater #1.
Figure 8.
Figure 9. Outer margin of Crater #1 boulder ramparts.
Figure 10. A Lava Cone is a miniature Shield Volcano. Usually, after the eruptions cease, they collapse in on themselves. This one didn't.
After Graduation
After completing my M.S., I had a yearning to get closer to home. While examining strategies, I took one or two Education courses, in case I decided to pursue teaching (Marla was a teacher). I checked around Austin, TX, but it seemed that there was a temporary lull in the "oil-based" Geology job market and the "Environmental" job market hadn't really taken off yet, as I had heard it had in the Atlanta area.
UTEP did not yet have any Hydrology courses in the Geology Department in 1990, the Hydrology course I took was through the Engineering Department (or was it Chemistry?). Hydrology (the study of Water and its characteristics and habits) is one of the most important components of Environmental Science and Ecology (related fields, but not exactly the same).
So the choice was made in early 1991, to move my family closer to the Southeast...
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