Surficial geologic investigations at Palestine, Keechi, and Oakwood salt domes have provided information necessary for evaluating these domes as nuclear waste repositories. Diapir growth uplifted sediments to form domes and created complex radial faulting.
Red beds, evaporites, and carbonates of the upper Clear Fork and Glorieta Formations (Permian) of the Texas Panhandle form an association of facies deposited in nearshore and supratidal environments along an arid coastline.
The Miocene Oakville Sandstone is a major aquifer and uranium host beneath the Texas Coastal Plain. In 1976, approximately 6,000 acre-ft of ground water were withdrawn from the Oakville for municipal use. An additional but unknown amount was used for drinking water in rural areas, for livestock, and for irrigation.
The San Andres evaporitic sequence in the Palo Duro Basin comprises several thick carbonate units in its lower part and many thin units in its upperpart. To the south, across the Northern Shelf of the Midland Basin, evaporites pinch out and carbonates predominate.