Hot Rocks
I have no clear starting point for the day when geology fire got lit inside me. But it did. And now, every time I see a rock I want to know what it is and how it came to be there. Yesterday, we drove into the Davis mountains and boy do they have some cool rocks. Remnants of old volcanoes that sprung to life 35 million years ago
It’s hard to get your head around that number, but I like to try. Because to do it you also have to figure out exactly where the piece of real estate you’re observing was located on the globe at the starting point and where it went afterwards, because usually the rocks in question didn’t start out looking like they look now. They just ended up that way, as wind and rain worked them over and the continents buckled and moved under them. It’s that trip that interests me.
I’ve got a big book of Texas geology at home and when I get there Sunday I’ll pull it out and try to piece together the story. But for now all I have is a picture of a world on fire, with lava flowing everywhere and hot rocks falling from the sky, literally hell on earth. Quite a departure from the quiet landscape that draws the tourists these days to marvel at the scenery. And when I can finally piece together that journey, I’ll have a little movie I can watch every time I see those mountains and I’ll know, too, that this isn’t the end. Because time isn’t finished with those mountains, not by a long shot.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver's Tale