The AIPG-TX Field Trip was led by Bruce Darling, Ph.D., P.G., C.P.G., serving as the AIPG-TX District II Representative, and others in the Spring of 2023, April 21 through 23 with Members of the Texas Board also attended, such as Henry M. Wise, P.G., C.P.G., President of the Texas Section of AIPG and Bruce Handley, P.G., a Board Member, who served as the Safety Officer during the Field Trip. Production of this guidebook was delayed while Dr. Darling was in Central America. When returning, and after some time, he and others completed the draft in late 2025. The Texas AIPG Board of Directors compliment Dr. Darling and his field-trip associates for their diligence in submitting this draft. Because the Guidebook preparation was delayed, the Board decided to release the Guidebook in draft form, while final review and revisions are completed on the draft.
Hudspeth County is one of the largest and most scenic counties in the State of Texas. Located in the mountainous, high desert of the Trans-Pecos region of the state, Hudspeth is the locus of some of the most complex geology in the southwestern United States. William R. Muehlberger, a faculty member for many years in the Jackson School of Geological Sciences of The University of Texas at Austin, commented to the senior author of this Guidebook that the Trans-Pecos area is much like the “solar plexus of North America”. Dr. Darling says that he meant that many orogenic episodes have overlapped within the region over a period of 1.4 billion years creating a geological jig-saw puzzle unexcelled by that of any other region of the continent. Plate collisions, thrust-faulting, metamorphism of rocks of Precambrian age, wrench-faulting, Laramide compression, millions of years of volcanic eruptions, followed by regional uplift and the formation of rift basins created a complicated geological mosaic. Hudspeth County has been at the center of these geological activities and have been reflected in this Guidebook.
The final version of the Guidebook will be released here when available. In the meantime, the Texas Officers and Board members have no doubt that all who will read the Guidebook will appreciate the efforts that have been made to assemble this draft (here).
