( <!" ~ MASTER Geological Circular 80-7 l980 Geology and Geohydrology of the Palo Duro Basin, Texas Panhandle A Report on the Progress of Nuclear Waste Isolation Feasibilily Studies (l9/9] -- 0KcAHOMA_0__ ~.;_·-·- --1"''·',_,----- -.' )0·11~------~-~----;;------- fN /. I [ · . 't\_ TEXA5\ ·_· ., /{J?i\ ,,:_/~' I ;:> I ' . ...r·zoo I 0 I ., l'& {{} . \..__~·z~ ~ ., ~o~. } I \ "'o "'\ •' · 0 ~, 40rnt ~ • / • • . - • y '"'' "" 0" 0~-~- """ [_. --:-<... ) I (_ & rvol , 50 It (15m) ; "'" ·.E> - • • ·.! Mr~"'~- . ; )' /Ot-?1!> Contour one I ~00 ' • , __ -· -~. / '-<~ 1 ~ I· &; / -?0 : .tvHyDf? · · .. ·~-o11) I O'o' C '-- ''F:, .----- r <!>( ~"+o :. 350~~<,~~--~lit''F: : ~ .or~~~--r. ·:~ l_' ·-:-~~ .J.R' !-=~~:~. =~--a~~ ·.P.T(~ :>z ' i WH('. ~·l by T C. Gustavson M. W Presley C R Handford. R. J. Finley. S. P. Dutton, R W Baumgardner, Jr., K. A. McGilliS, and W W. Simpkins ~CONo, • . ~,;_,i' ; _ ~ .· .... 1I .,I.; . ---~ ....... _,..._ ....... - "'" 0 Bureau of Economic Geology 0' .. ()'_-•__ ·-._., Cl /·',;: tal~ , t-\ The Urwersity of Texas at Aust1n W L. Ftsher, Director • ~ ~ . ~ ot"l 1:': i -~ - ~ O:,j • Aust1n, Texas 78712 ,~· ~ \" .'C ~~I" .i$1; . '0 . "• -.~~ •: /).n ., ,._') ' ~- . } ~~~ ~ I .._·· • J ~ !~ :S t.. -"'r ,.., • • ._.( ~tt:. :~~~;: ~~~( <7 * . ·---· s ~ DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency Thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. 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Geological Circular 80-7 GEOLOGY AND GEOHYDROLOGY OF THE PALO DURO BASIN, TEXAS PANHANDLE· A Report on the Progress of Nuclear Waste Isolation Feasibility Studies 0979) ---------DISCLAIMER---------, This boo~> was prepared as an aceount of work sponsored by an agency of the U~ited States Go:;:.::~'· 1 Neither the United Stat7s ~vernment nor anva:e~cva:n~i~~:i· 1~ u~rail;~~';~,i~;p;:~~~ ac~;ra:. warranty, express or •mplied, ,oranassui::rma~on~ apparatus, product, or process disclosed,. ~r completen~, o_r us::u:,e;d ~ot i:fringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to anv_ spec•hc represent~ t at ItS u or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwJSO, ~ocs I commerc•al ~~rod:~~~~:e~r imply Its endorsement, recommendation. or favoring by th_e United t/ by ~~;,~:~~~ent or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed here1n do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or a~y agency thereof. T. C. Gustavson, M. W. Presley, C. R. Handford, R. J. Finley, S. P. Dutton, R. W. Baumgardner, Jr., K. A. MCGillis, and W. W. Simpkins· Burea1,1 of Economic Geology The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 78712 W." L. Fisher, Director a: IU g0 IU (I) 0 Funded by U.S. Department of Energy, ~ > ) jjj"' Contract No. DE-AC97-79ET44614 0 ;::)" IU .Jv~ Q. a: 1980 OF THIS UNLIM\(':3 "to•"'"U gl•li-'WI •••to" i1 QllCyi~EtW1S· ..·.c_ ' ''!' < . \. THIS PAGE· WAS INTENTIO-NALLY. LEFT BLANK ( (: '- . TABLE OF CONTENTS Purpose and scope -. 1 Palo Duro and Dalhart Basin studies-- A summary of second-year research activities 3 Lithofacies and depositional environments of evaporite-bearing strata based on Randall and Swisher County cores • 5 Mapping of facies by well log interpretation • 8 Upper Permian salt-bearing stratigraphic units 12 Salt depositional systems--an example from the Tubb Formation 24 Salt depth a!"ld thickness studies 33 Petroleum source rock quality and thermal maturity • 41 Preliminary aspects of deep-basin hydrology • 47 Climatic analysis 52 Slope erosion mechanisms • 58 Suspended sediment concentration and stream discharge relationships for the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River: an approach to determine erosion rates 63 Shallow ground-water hydrology--a preliminary review 67 Rates of salt dissolution 71 Preliminary rates of slope retreat and salt dissolution along the eastern Caprock Escarpment of the Southern High Plains and in the Canadian River Valley 7 6 Faulting and salt dissolution 83 Collapse chimneys, collapse surfaces, and breccia zones 88 Landsat analysis of surface linear elements • 92 References ... iii •• '"· • •• I· • ....·. :: . ·:. : . ' !. ;' •. •' ; 1 ·· .. :..'' ·~\ ·-':. :T.filS''''PAGE--:>·._· I .. WAS 'INTENTlON:ALLY LEFT BLANK ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 1. Structure of Texas Panhandle Program .- 2 2. Log facies cross section, upper Clear Fork Formation • 10 3. Log facies cross section, Glorieta Formation • 11 4. Regional structural setting of the Palo Duro and Dalhart Basins • .. 15 t 5. North-south cross section, Upper Permian salt-bearing strata, Texas Panhandle 16 6. East-west cross section, Upper Permian salt-bearing strata, Texas Pan­ handle .. 17 7. Upper Clear Fork- Glorieta.Formations, north_.south cross section C-C', Texas Panhandle • 18 · 8. Thickness of upper Clear Fork- Glorieta Formations, Texas Panhandle 19 9. San Andres Formation, north-south cross section D-D', Texas Panhandle 20 10. Thickness of San Andres Formation, Texas Panhandle 21 11. Post-San Andres Formations, north-south cross section E-E', Texas Panhandle 22 12. Thickness of post-San Andres Formations, Texas Panhandle • 23 13. Facies and environments recorded in Tubb strata of the Palo Duro and Dalhart Basins • - 26 14. Diagrammatic north-south cross section of Tubb strata 15. Diagrammatic representation of the interrelationship between Tubb red-bed (siliciclastic) units and evaporite-carbonate units 28 16. Northwest-southeast cross section, Tubb Formation·,- Palo Duro Basin 29 17. Net mudstone of a siliciclastic-dominant bed in the Tubb Formation (Tubb unit G) • 30 18. Facies maps of evaporite-carbonate units 1, 2, and 3 (oldest to· youngest) of the Tubb Formation 31 19. North-south cross section of Tubb evaporite-carbonate unit 2, il­ -e lustrating southward shift of carbonate and evaporite facies 32 v 20. · Salt deposits with more than 50 ft (15 m) net salt that occur at depths between 1,000 and 3,000 ft (305 and 915 m), lower Clear Fork Formation, Texas Panhandle 34 21. Salt deposits with more than 50 ft (15 m) net ·salt that occur at depths between 1,000 and 3,000 ft (305 and 915 m), upper Clear Fork Formation, Texas Panhandle 35 22. Salt deposits with more than 50 ft (15 m). net salt that occur at depths between 1,000 and 3,000 ft (305 and 915 m), Glorieta Formation, Texas Panhandle 36 23. Salt deposits with more than 50 ft (15 m) net salt that occur at depths between 1,000 and 3,000 ft (305 and 915 m), lower part of San Andres Formation, Texas Panhandle 37 24. Salt deposits with more than 50 ft (15 m) net salt that occur at depths between 1,000 and 3,000 ft (305 and 915 m), upper part of San Andres Formation, Texas Panhandle 38 25. Salt deposits .with more than 50 ft (15 m) net salt that occur at depths between 1,000 and 3,000 ft (305 and 915 m), Seven Rivers Formation, Texas Panhandle • 39 26. Salt deposits with more than 50 ft (15 m) net salt that occur at depths between 1,000 and 3,000. ft (305 and 915 m), Salado Formation, Texas Panhandle 40 27. Wells in the Palo Duro Basin, Texas, with good to very good Penn­ sylvanian and Wolfcampian source rock potential on the basis of total organic carbon content 44 28. Geographic distribution of organic carbon in Pennsylvanian and Wolf- campian strata of the Palo Duro Basin, Texas. 45 . 29. Kerogen color (thermal alteration index) and vitrinite reflectance values of Pt;-nnc;ylvr~nirt.n source rocks in the Palo Duro Basin, Texas, related to hydrocarbon facies (from Schwab, 1977) • 46 30. Potentiometric surface ·of Pennsylvanian strata (excluding granite wash) in the Palo Duro and Dalhart Basins, Texas • 49 31. Potentiometric surface. of Lower Permian (Wolfcampian) str·ata in the Palo Duro and Dalhart Basins, Texas 50 32. Pressure versus depth curves for drill stem tests in Bailey and Donley Counties, Texas 51 33. Rainfall intensity-duration profiles for two storms, recorded at erosion monitoring localities 55 ··... 34. Hourly rainfall intensity expressed as a percent of the total time p'eriod of rainfall with intensity > 0.25 inch (6.4 mm) per hour; also, hourly rainfall intensities for a single storm at Amarillo, Texas • 56 vi 35. Four-inch (102 mm) isohyets compiled from daily 24-hour .rainfall distribution maps for the period 1947-1976 57 36. Net erosion and deposition for 39 erosion pins measured ·on December 12, 1978, and August 8, 1979 61 37. Net erosion and deposition for erosion pins at four monitoring localit­ ies for the periods (1) December 12, 1978, to August 8, 1979, at Caprock Canyons State Park, (2) June 26, 1978, to ·August 24, 19?9, at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, (3) June 6, 1978, to· May 1, 1979, at Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge, and (4) February 3, 1978, to Dec~mber ll, 1978, at Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge . • 62 38. Suspended sediment concentration and stream discharge relationships f~r two regions--one semiarid and one humid • 65 39. Suspended sediment load and stream discharge relationships for two streams in semiarid regions • . • 66 . 40. ConceptuaJ grou.nd-water flow model for the High Plains and Rolling Plains regions, showing ground-water flow paths in relation to regional recharge and discharge areas and to th~ pattern of salt dissolution · (from Gustavson and others, in press) 70 41.