Geology Online
- Former National Park Service Intern Eric Butler explains the structure and formation of the Lake Meredith geologic complex in Geology of Lake Meredith.
- Curator of the Hutchinson County Historical Museum and retired Park Ranger Wes Phillips discusses the science behind the development of Alibates Flint in his article A Book on Alibates Flint
- In History and Lore of Alibates Flint,an article more closely aligned with the uses of Alibates Flint, Phillips takes us on a historical tour of the practical uses of flint mined from Alibates and the nearby Plum Creek tributary.
- In the article Paleontology of Lake Meredith Wes Phillips describes the geologic formations and their relationship to the natural, biological history of the Lake Meredith area.
- In, Petroglyphs: Rock Art in the Texas Panhandle an historical sequel to pre-anthropological natural history of the Plains, Randall Derrick discusses the uses and meanings of the petroglyphs at Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. In a merger between humans and the durability of the natural geologic features, the limestone and dolomite became the canvas and spiritual memory boards of the Antelope Creek phase of the Plains Village horizon.
Geology of the Texas Panhandle
Geological time is very difficult to imagine. In the words of Wes Phillips, "rocks are unimaginably old, and the same is true of rocks in the Texas Panhandle." The current landscape of the Texas Panhandle began it's development about 70,000,000 years ago with the uplift of the Rocky Mountains. Imagine a landscape structure 700,000 centuries of old!
The natural erosion created by the westerly weather patterns flowed down in elevation and to the east and the naturally agraded streams fanned out into alluvial formations. The calcium saturated water evaporated leaving thick layers of hard dolomite that eventually formed the Caprock. With a subsequent layer of loam clay forming on top, the flat surface of the Llano Estacado was formed.
East of the -101 longitude the weaker caprock broke off and eroded into the lower elevations of the Panhandle, the lowest being near Childress, Texas. The lower areas are covered with scrubs and Mesquite, has a higher annual average temperature and receives more rainfall than the higher elevations in the west.
The natural erosion created by the westerly weather patterns flowed down in elevation and to the east and the naturally agraded streams fanned out into alluvial formations. The calcium saturated water evaporated leaving thick layers of hard dolomite that eventually formed the Caprock. With a subsequent layer of loam clay forming on top, the flat surface of the Llano Estacado was formed.
East of the -101 longitude the weaker caprock broke off and eroded into the lower elevations of the Panhandle, the lowest being near Childress, Texas. The lower areas are covered with scrubs and Mesquite, has a higher annual average temperature and receives more rainfall than the higher elevations in the west.