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

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.

Lower Permian (Wolfcampian) strata of the Palo Duro Basin consist of thick, terrigenous clastic and carbonate facies that were deposited in (1) fan-delta, (2) high-constructive delta, (3) carbonate shelf and shelf-margin, and (4) slope and basinal systems.

The Neogene Ogallala Formation is an alluvial apron that occurs east of the Rocky Mountains from South Dakota to the Southern High Plains of Texas. The Ogallala was deposited by coalescent, low-gradient, wet alluvial fans that headed in mountains to the west.

A broad zone of salt dissolution that affects parts of the Permian Salado, Seven Rivers, San Andres, Glorieta, and upper Clear Fork Formations occurs beneath the Canadian River Valley from New Mexico eastward toward Amarillo, Texas, and southeastward parallel to the eastern Caprock Escarpment.

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 Palo Duro Basin seemingly has all the elements necessary for hydrocarbon generation and accumulation: reservoirs, traps, source rocks, and sufficient thermal maturity. Porous facies in pre-Pennsylvanian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian strata are potential hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Geologic characterization of evaporite deposits as potential host rocks for burial of radioactive waste must include hydrogeologic investigations at both local and regional scales.