In recent years, exploration and mining of uranium have become a significant part of the Texas mineral scene, with Texas emerging as a leading uranium-producing state. At the end of 1970, Texas ranked third in reserves among the states, with ore reserves of 6.6 million tons.
Tertiary rocks, including sandstone, conglomerate, shale, pyroclastics, tuff, and lava, are preserved in Big Bend National Park and in a much larger area to the west and northwest. Some of the rocks have distinctive characteristics that enable recognition by their lithology.
This work was begun in 1964 and substantially completed in 1965; at that time conodont zones had been established in North America only for the Upper Devonian, by Clark and Becker (1960) for the Great Basin and Collinson, Scott, and Rexroad (1962) for the mid-continent.
Two distinctive subaerial physiographic features that form a substantial portion, by area, of most barrier islands along the Texas coast are the washover fan and the tidal delta. Volumetrically, washover fan deposits and tidal delta deposits form a significant part of each barrier island.
Trilobites collected during the past 20 years from the Morgan Creek, Point Peak, and San Saba Members of the Wilberns Formation comprise 89 species assigned to 45 genera belonging to zones of the upper Franconian and Trempealeauan Stages of the Upper Cambrian Croixan Series.