An area of Permian badlands in northwest Texas contains soft red shales and sandstones, infused with beds of crumbly gypsum and greenish-gray lenses of copper-bearing clays, eroded quickly and easily in the numerous dry washes. The resulting sandy slurry from one storm left behind the pattern of running water upon drying. While the surface still was moist, a small animal tracked across. The “golden hour” low-light angle accentuates the textural complexities of this surface. This wash lies at the very southern edge of the Red River drainage (via the Wichita River), eventually pouring into Louisiana. Just a hundred yards or so farther south and across US-82, which rides the crest of a topographic divide, water from the same storm would spill into the Brazos River, and eventually, the Texas coast. Given the deep gullying and expansive erosion for miles around, it may be only a few hundred years or less until runoff from either side undercuts the roadbed and takes it down, without some kind of engineering intervention.
4 ENE Benjamin TX (16 Feb 10) Looking NW
33.5915, -99.7167