Texsox

With no one to check the IDs, I'm not certain how that really helps.

Thank you, I meant vertical. Have you seen any that were along a flat section of ground?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 10:19 AM) Don't know my Mexican geology all that well, but that at least sounds like a plausible comparison. I am trying to learn, the problem is the books I am finding are either too simple or too advanced. It seems as if there has been so much activity there, and so jumbled up, that explanations are not very straight forward and can change dramatically in a few miles.

I wish I could find a decent photo, I think my explanation is still inaccurate. All of the dikes were in the rolling hills, none on a flat feature. Looking across the desert to them we would see a wavy line. They are still standing horizontal like the back of a stegosaurus. And yes, the NPS rangers all referred to them as dikes, I believe volcanic dikes to be more precise.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 09:46 AM) Generally, this one is going to happen based on what is driving the uplift. If the rocks are being uplifted by compression from the East, they probably fit into the Appalachians; compression from the West would fit into the Rockies. There are age constraints here also; the uplifts happened at different times as well, so you can probably distinguish which mountain range things fit into based on age, but really, the dividing line is "one is driven by Europe and Africa smashing into North America", "One is driven by subduction along the west coast and various smaller things smashing in". Is that kind of like Occidental versus Oriental mountain ranges?

If we were to take a walk on top of the dikes we would be constantly walking up and down hill, I did not see a spot where they were flat across.

Adding another one, and thank you . . . I've identified a couple of the ranges as being part of the Appalachians and some as part of the Rockies, how are ranges classified? If they both come so close together, why isn't this one large "U" shaped range? Age? Type of rock?

Hopefully this will not make it more confusing If we looked at a topo map of the dikes they would be running across the lines, not parallel to them. All of the dikes were in the areas of rolling hills so the tops were at constantly changing elevations. I would have thought at some point there would be a "flat top" section. Erosion has taken away the other material from them at an almost constant level. So from the ground to the top of the dike that distance is fairly consistent, but the terrain is always through rolling hills never straight across a mesa.

LOL, the nearest road was over three miles away. Funny you should mention a road, on that trail there is a portion of a concrete road that was abandoned when Big Bend was created. It is really weird, in the middle of a desert, to see a 30 or 40 yard section of an old one lane road. At first I assumed it was an old driveway, but through later research I learned the old road was routed closer to the Dead Horse Mountains. During the 1850s the US Army conducted two expeditions through that area to test the usefulness of camels in the southwest. It was partially to map the region and also to help with the Mexican-American war efforts. The project was dropped as the Civil War broke out and later never followed up on, in part because the expeditions were conducted under the commands of Jefferson Davis and Robert Lee. A little know camel fact I learned, camel urine is paste-like and their feces is almost bone dry to conserve water.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 08:10 AM) My main worry on-line was security, but seeing as we have no security in the voting process, I supposed that on-line balloting really wouldn't be any less secure than what we have now. That should be everyone's worry. I don't see much difference between the potential fraud in absentee mail in ballots and some on-line plan. The biggest issue I see now is that because mail ins are such a small number, they are only a factor in very close races. I believe on-line voting would attract so many people that potential fraud would be magnified and an election could be stolen.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 05:09 AM) See ya Mr. Perry. He is reassessing his campaign. I believe he is checking his major donors and seeing how far the money will last. he needs to stick around for a couple more primaries to set himself up as a serious VP candidate.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 28, 2011 -> 12:04 PM) I am saying we have done everything under the sun to make voting easier. We had literally hundreds of hours of early voting time available to people, in addition to absentee balloting that only required a phone call and a stamp as a registered voter. We also have multiple ways to register to vote, including going to the DMV for anything, the courthouse, running into any candidate at all during election season, or again through mail. I have a hard time looking at all of this and taking charges of disenfranchisement seriously, when turnout ends up being around 20% for a general election. Short of putting it on facebook, it is about impossible to make it easier for people to vote than it is today. We haven't done everything under the sun, but I agree in principle with all you wrote. While you jest regarding putting it on Facebook, why not on-line? It won't necessarily help the poor voters, but it would help some groups. And the fact you can't take this seriously is one of the complaints that Dems have traditionally addressed while Reps seem to dismiss it. Poor people are complaining and one party doesn't take them seriously. Isn't listening and serving part of government?

Thank you sir. A follow up question. What is the commonality in limestone and what would make one area's limestone different? All of the dikes we saw were rolling up and down, never of the same height. As I understand they were formed by molten rock squeezed up through openings, it is just a small sample size that caused us to only see the rolling dikes or is there some factor I am missing that causes rolling waves?

A few questions about the geology of Big Bend National Park Any idea what this is and how it formed? We viewed a formation where a gray/cocoa layer, very thin, seemed to have formed over some pink (limestone?). Was this rock or perhaps a lichen? There is a layer of limestone that the park rangers called Santa Elana limestone. How is limestone named and are there significant differences between limestone in various locations around the world? The area was overgrazed which set up a series of events leading to the desert environment there now. There are many minor and major washes crisscrossing the desert. Were these a result of the increased run off as the area changed from grasslands to desert? I may need to hire you for a week, the area is so fascinating. We wore out a couple rangers with questions.

SS I am certainly conflicted here, but shouldn't voters in every state have the option to vote for any of that party's candidates? Why should one state be given the choice of nine candidates and another state only two? I see Rex's point that a candidate should show some organization in a state, but if someone can win a stae without much organization,doesn't that say a lot about that candidate?

Alpha, you a certainly right that people need to out effort in. But there should not be a price. But we each have a different perspective on poverty in America.

SS are you suggesting that a low voter turnout is evidence that people are not kept from voting? I am not following your argument. I would think that is evidence that there are barriers to voting that people are not willing to overcome. Wouldn't making it easier increase turnout?

The team's fortunes hinged on Dunn's bat. Statistically it was a good bet. I don't think Oz had much of a choice. The annoying part is I believe Oz enjoyed it.

Only in the gulf.

Just another thought, how do the voters in a state where the candidate is left off the ballot benefit? Their state gets ignored.

I agree for the parties knowing which candidates have a campaign presence is a good thing, I don't believe it is as valuable to the voters. In a prequel to a national election, isn't it valuable to know how every candidate performs in every state? In the general election everyone will have the same choice, shouldn't that also hold true in the primary?

Again, if they are not voting now, even more reason to work towards eliminating those barriers. Both in registering and in voting. Doesn't matter if they are poor people in the sticks or soldiers away from home.

My girlfriend and I will be spending a couple of days in San Antonio then on to Big Bend.

I was joking about Joe and Jay, but I thought literary villains were allowed. They dominated my list.

So do we sink to the lowest standard? They did it first? When will it end? Can it end before it is too late?