Tectonic History, Structural Geology, and Mineral Resources of Hudspeth County, Texas
Abstract
This presentation will be an overview of the tectonic setting and structural geology of the Trans-Pecos region, with emphasis on Hudspeth County. The material will be drawn from a guidebook prepared for the 2023 AIPG-Texas field trip (Geology of Hudspeth County), a three-day exploration (led by Bruce Darling, Michael Jacobs, Rich Kyle, and Philip Goodell). In addition to tectonics and structural geology, the presentation will cover important aspects of the economic geology of Hudspeth County. Of special interest will be geological factors that account for emplacement of rhyolite laccoliths northwest of Sierra Blanca and the concentration of rare earth elements, beryllium, and uranium within the Sierra Blanca laccoliths of the Trans-Pecos Magmatic Province. Round Top Mountain has been the focal area of exploration by Texas Mineral Resources Corporation and USA Rare Earth. The presentation will include current information on the status of the Round Top Mountain project, scheduled to begin commercial production in 2028.
Also included in the presentation will be the history and location of fluorspar mining in the Eagle Mountains, along with a discussion of geological factors that account for the formation of fluorspar deposits in the northeastern Eagle Mountains. Talc deposits at Allamoore and the mining of those deposits will be discussed as well as other mineral deposits along the eastern boundary of the extensive Diablo Plateau (aka, the western boundary of the West Texas Salt Basin). (Based on Draft AIPG-TX Field-Trip Guide).
Bio
Bruce Darling has nearly five decades of experience in the energy, mineral, and ground-water industries. Over the course of his career, the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, especially Hudspeth County, has been a focal area of much of his geological consulting. Bruce earned a PhD in Geology and a MA in Energy & Mineral Resources (Mineral Economics) at UT-Austin. Before embarking on his PhD program, he was a doctoral student in Mineral Economics at Colorado School of Mines. As a much younger man, he studied Economics and earned a MS in Geology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. As a Min Ec student at Mines and UT-Austin, he studied international mineral markets and factors that drive demand, supply, and price formation of mineral commodities. Recently retired, Bruce and his wife Diane live in Bastrop County, a place he calls “ground-zero” for the Darling family in Texas since 1835.
Cost: Members – $10 | Non-Members – $25 | AIPG Student Members – free
Participants who attend the full webinar will receive a certificate for 0.1 CEU / 1 PDH.
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