Yesterday I walked to the closest Tertiary formation in the Barracanos badlands. From the base I looked back towards the formations on the other side of the arroyo. A valley I’d never recognized spread out below. The arroyos and washes that dominated when I was in the valley had disappeared.
A few days before I’d walked downstream along the top of the left bank between the ranch road and the area widened by the irrigation ditch. In that small area I could see the level I called the second bottom existed on both sides and appeared to be the same height.
This isn’t a glimpse of the Tertiary past. Rather, this is what remains after waters filled, then retreated, waters that rose to different heights at different times.
Note: Picture 2 is looking down on the second bottom. In picture 3 the bottom continues on the opposite side in the space between the two bare banks.
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