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STS039-096-069 Guadalupe Mountains, Texas, U.S.A. May 1991 Featured in this photograph are Salt Basin, a broad, flat valley consisting of windblown sands and white alkali salt flats approximately 70 miles (113 kilometers) due east of El Paso, and the dark, rugged Guadalupe Mountains, the largest fossil reef in the world. El Capitan, an imposing cliff composed of limestone reef rock, and Guadalupe Peak [8749 feet (2667 meters) above sea level], the highest point in Texas, are near the southern end of the Guadalupe Mountains. Combined U.S. Highway 62 and U.S. Highway 180, the linear east-west-trending feature, can be traced across this arid landscape, just south of an agricultural area. Irrigated field patterns west of the salt flats identify the small town of Dell City.
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