This week for throwback Thursday (#TBT) we’re going deep into Friday Night Lights territory and checking out the landscape of West Texas. We’re looking at the area around Midland and Odessa to see how fracking in the Permian Basin has triggered a new oil boom that has transformed the region in recent years.

The Google-powered Timelapse shows the surge of oil and natural gas extraction in this region.  As of today, there are 546 drilling rigs working the Permian shale formations – over a third of all onshore drilling rigs pursuing oil in the US.

Do some skytruthing of your own by zooming in or out of the Timelapse.  If you’re interested in more Texas viewing, check out the Yates Oil Field in Pecos County (which is west-southwest of this view).  Take a screenshot and let us know what you find via Facebook and Twitter.