Integrated, detailed, and comprehensive study of the physical stratigraphy, tectonic history, hydrogeology, geomorphology, and resource potential of the Palo Duro and Dalhart Basins, Texas Panhandle, is part of a national evaluation of ancient salt basins as potential sites for isolation and mana

Since early 1977, the Bureau of Economic Geology has been evaluating several salt-bearing basins within the State of Texas as part of the national nuclear repository program.

Pennsylvanian clastic and carbonate strata were deposited in a variety of environments within the Palo Duro Basin. Maximum accumulation (totaling 750 m or 2,400 ft) occurred along a northwest-southeast axis.

The Red Cave Formation (Permian, Leonard Series) in the Texas Panhandle consists of cyclic, red-bed clastic and carbonate-evaporite members that reflect deposition in extensive coastal sabkhas.

Samples collected from 20 geographically widespread wells in the sparsely drilled Palo Duro Basin were analyzed for total organic carbon content (TOC). Highest values of TOC, up to 6.9 percent, occur in Upper Permian San Andres dolomite in the southern part of the basin.

The Salado-Tansill and Alibates Formations are the youngest evaporite and carbonate facies within a thick Permian sequence of evaporites, carbonates, and red beds in the Texas Panhandle.

Integrated study of the basin structure, tectonic history, rock physics, physical stratigraphy, hydrogeology, geochemistry, natural resources, and geomorphology of the Palo Duro and Dalhart Basins in the Texas Panhandle is part of a national evaluation of ancient salt basins as potential sites fo

Permian strata in the Texas Panhandle exhibit a variety of deformation styles that are attributed to tectonic stresses as well as to collapse caused by evaporite dissolution. At Caprock Canyons State Park, deformation structures above salt dissolution zones include veins, faults, and folds.

Cores from deep stratigraphic test wells provide an excellent basis for determination of source-rock quality and thermal maturity of potential hydrocarbon source rocks in the Palo Duro Basin. Total organic carbon (TOC) content in Pennsylvanian and Wolfcampian rocks is highest in basinal shales.

Remotely sensed features such as linear drainages, escarpments, ridges, and aligned playas have been identified on Landsat imagery (scale 1:250,000) of the Texas Panhandle and adjacent regions to allow comparison of these features with detailed regional and site-specific geologic data.