The Tecolotito plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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Tecolotito’s center stands about 5,340 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 5,200 ft to 5,810 ft, a difference of 610 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Starvation Peak, about 7,000 ft, 14 miles northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Artesia Group (mixed-clastic, anhydrite, dolostone), from the Permian, 260 to 273 million years old.
The section below crosses 5 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 13×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Sandstone, conglomerate-sandstone. Age: Late Triassic, 227 to 237 million years old. About 11 mi of the line.
Mixed-clastic, anhydrite, dolostone. Age: Permian, 260 to 273 million years old. About 9 mi of the line.
Sandstone, shale, limestone. Age: Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic, 145 to 175 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Sandstone, mudstone. Age: Late Triassic, 202 to 237 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
Arenite, shale. Age: Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous, 94 to 113 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Tecolotito reaches the Gulf of America by way of the Pecos and the Rio Grande: about 1,450 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Paz Ramirez Lake, Amistad Reservoir, Red Bluff Reservoir and Lake McMillan.
410 miles of the trip are on the Pecos.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Tecolotito; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
