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Ground water in the High Plains of Texas

Water Supply Paper 889-F
By: , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/wsp889F

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Abstract

The High Plains of Texas occupy an area of about 35,000 square miles, extending from the northern boundary of the Panhandle southward about 300 miles, and from the New Mexico line eastward an average distance of about 120 miles. This region is divided into two segments by the Canadian River and the name Llano Estacado has usually been assigned by geologists to the southern, or larger part, which is bounded on the east and on the west by the escarpments of the High Plains and on the north by the valley of the deeply entrenched Canadian River. The ground water occurs chiefly in the beds of sand in the Ogallala formation, which underlies the surface throughout almost the entire region and in many places is 200 to 300 feet thick. It rests on an uneven floor of older rocks, which are exposed at the base of the escarpments bounding the High Plains and in the Canadian "River Valley. If water is found in them it is generally highly mineralized. As the water-bearing sands of the Ogallala are cut off in all directions by escarpments, they have no underground connections with water-bearing beds outside of the area except through the underlying older rocks, which contain highly mineralized water and could not be the source of the fresh water in the Ogallala. The source of this fresh water, therefore, must be the rain and snow that fall on the surface of the High Plains.

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Ground water in the High Plains of Texas
Series title Water Supply Paper
Series number 889
Chapter F
DOI 10.3133/wsp889F
Year Published 1946
Language English
Publisher U.S. Government Printing Office
Publisher location Washington, D.C.
Contributing office(s) Texas Water Science Center
Description 47 p.
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details