Cretaceous rocks in the Southern High Plains, traditionally considered to be part of the High Plains aquifer and recharged by the overlying Ogallala aquifer, actually contain three aquifers with different recharge sources. Two separate subcrop areas of Cretaceous rocks underlie the Ogallala Formation. These subcrops are composed of sandstones, limestones, and shales and have a total thickness of as much as 250 ft (76 m). Three aquifers, the Trinity sandstone, the Edwards limestone, and the Duck Creek – Kiamichi sandstones and limestones, were identified within the Cretaceous section.

The Palo Duro Basin of the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico contains bedded Permian salts of sufficient thickness and depth for the basin to be considered as a potential site for long-term storage and isolation of high-level nuclear waste. Salt (primarily halite) is a desirable host rock because of its low permeability, high thermal conductivity, low moisture content, and high gamma-ray shielding properties (Johnson, 1976b). A major concern that was addressed during the waste isolation study of the Texas Panhandle region is the long-term integrity of the bedded-salt host rock.

Damon Mound salt dome, located in Brazoria County, Texas, is a shallow diaper that has salt less than 600 ft (180 m) and cap rock less than 100 ft (30 m) below the surface. Oligocene through Pleistocene strata thin toward the diapir, and the occurrence of a coralline facies of the Oligocene Heterostegina limestone above the cap rock suggests seafloor relief over the diapir during late Oligocene time. Thickening of Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene strata peripheral to the dome suggests syndepositional salt flow from surrounding salt withdrawal subbasins.