SPEAKER: Donald P. McGookey

TOPIC: West Texas Volcanoes

LOCATION: Petroleum Club 8620 N New Braunfels Ave # 700 San Antonio, TX 78217 TIME: 11:30 AM, Wednesday, March 11, 2020 COST: $25.00 for members with reservations

RESERVATIONS: Register AND pre-pay online at www.STGS.org

Abstract

From 39 to 24 million years ago Southwest Texas had nearly continuous igneous activity. It was part of a belt of igneous activity in the southwest part of the continent that extended from the Sierra Madera Occidental Mountains of northwest Mexico to near the Canadian border in Northwest Montana. In Texas the major features are the Davis Mountains, Chisos Mountains, Chinati Mountains, and Bofecillos Mountains in that order. Every type of igneous feature is present. There are intrusive laccoliths. sills, and dikes and extrusive lava, ignimbrite and mud flows and widespread ash deposits. The area is part of the Chihuahua Desert. The fauna and sparse flora add to the wild and raw feeling one gets in working or visiting this area. There are several state parks and many camping areas. The night sky is something special. The stars are big and bright, to the point that it is hard to find individual constellations. That explains why the McDonald Observatory is on a hill just a few miles northwest of Fort Davis.

Biography

Donald P. McGookey is from Sandusky, Ohio. He spent two years in the Navy as an Electronic Technician. He earned a BS at Bowling Green State University, a MS from the University of Wyoming, and a Ph.D. at The Ohio State University. Texaco Inc. employed him from 1952 to 1979. He worked in various parts of the Rocky Mountains for 17 years and the balance in assignments in New York (International Exploration) and as Chief Geologist in Houston, Texas. Don ended his career with Texaco as manager of exploration in Midland, Texas. Since 1979, he has been an independent geologist working primarily in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeast New Mexico. He is the author of “Geologic Wonders of South Park, Colorado”, 2001 and “Geologic Wonders of West Texas”, 2004.