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Ogallala Formation
The Ogallala Formation is a Miocene to early Pliocene geologic formation in the central High Plains of the western United States and the location of the Ogallala Aquifer. In Nebraska and South Dakota it is also classified as the Ogallala Group. Notably, it records the North American Land Mammal Ages (NALMAs) Hemphillian, Clarendonian, and Barstovian. It also includes an excellent record of grass seeds and other plant seeds, which can be used for biostratigraphic dating within the formation. The Ogallala Formation outcrops of Lake Meredith National Recreation Area preserve fish fossils. Similar specimens from the same unit are found at Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument in Texas. Development At the beginning of the Rocky Mountains uplift, the final floor of the Western Interior Seaway was elevated several thousand feet (thousands of meters) above sea level. The pattern of erosion of material from the northeast into the midcontinent was largely reversed from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caliche
Caliche () is a soil accumulation of soluble calcium carbonate at depth, where it precipitates and binds other materials—such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt. It occurs worldwide, in aridisol and mollisol soil orders—generally in arid or semiarid regions, including in central and western Australia, in the Kalahari Desert, in the High Plains (United States), High Plains of the western United States, in the Sonoran Desert, Chihuahuan Desert and Mojave Desert of North America, and in eastern Saudi Arabia at Al-Ahsa Oasis, Al-Hasa. Caliche is also known as calcrete or kankar (in India). It belongs to the duricrusts. The term is borrowed from Spanish and is originally from the Latin word , meaning Lime (mineral), lime. Caliche is generally light-colored but can range from white to light pink to reddish-brown, depending on the minerals present. Caliche is a mark of older landscapes. It generally occurs on or very near the surface. Where caliche layers originate at some depth from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triassic
The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period of the Mesozoic Era and the seventh period of the Phanerozoic Eon. Both the start and end of the period are marked by major extinction events. The Triassic Period is subdivided into three epochs: Early Triassic, Middle Triassic and Late Triassic. The Triassic began in the wake of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, which left the Earth's biosphere impoverished; it was well into the middle of the Triassic before life recovered its former diversity. Three categories of organisms can be distinguished in the Triassic record: survivors from the extinction event, new groups that flourished briefly, and other new groups that went on to dominate the Mesozoic Era. Reptiles, especially archosaurs, were the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument is a U.S. national monument in the state of Texas. For thousands of years, people came to the red bluffs above the Canadian River for flint, vital to their existence. Demand for the high-quality, rainbow-hued flint is reflected in the distribution of Alibates flint through the Great Plains and beyond. Native Americans of the Ice Age Clovis culture used Alibates flint for spear points to hunt the Columbian mammoth before the Great Lakes were formed. The flint usually lies just below the surface at ridge level in a layer up to 6 ft thick. The quarry pits were not very large, between 5 and 25 ft wide and 4 to 7 ft deep. Many of these quarries were exploited by the Antelope Creek Phase, Antelope Creek people of the Panhandle culture between 1200 and 1450 AD. The stone-slabbed, multiroom houses built by the Antelope Creek people have long been of interest to the public and studied by archaeologists. Today, this area is protecte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area located about north of Amarillo, Texas, in the Texas Panhandle. Its main attraction is Lake Meredith, a reservoir created by Sanford Dam on the Canadian River The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .Fritch. Visitors to Lake Meredith peaked at over 1.94 million in 1984, but with record-low water levels, visita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biostratigraphy
Biostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy which focuses on correlating and assigning relative ages of rock strata by using the fossil assemblages contained within them.Hine, Robert. "Biostratigraphy." ''Oxford Reference: Dictionary of Biology'', 8th ed., Oxford University Press, 2019. The primary objective of biostratigraphy is ''correlation'', demonstrating that a particular horizon in one geological section represents the same period of time as another horizon at a different section. Fossils within these strata are useful because sediments of the same age can look completely different, due to local variations in the sedimentary environment. For example, one section might have been made up of clays and marls, while another has more chalky limestones. However, if the fossil species recorded are similar, the two sediments are likely to have been laid down around the same time. Ideally these fossils are used to help identify biozones, as they make up the basic biostratigraphy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barstovian
The Barstovian North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 16,300,000 to 13,600,000 years BP, a period of . It is usually considered to overlap the Langhian and Serravallian stages of the Middle Miocene. The Barstovian is preceded by the Hemingfordian and followed by the Clarendonian NALMA stages. The Barstovian can be further divided into the substages of: * late Late Barstovian: Lower boundary source of the base of the Langhian (approximate) * early Late Barstovian: Base of the Langhian (approximate) * early/lower Barstovian: Upper boundary source: base of Clarendonian (approximate) Correlations The Barstovian (15.97 to 13.6 Ma) correlates with: * SALMA ** Colloncuran (15.5-13.8 Ma) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clarendonian
The Clarendonian North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 13,600,000 to 9,000,000 years BP, a period of . It is usually considered to overlap the Serravallian age of the Middle Miocene and the Tortonian age of the Late Miocene. The Clarendonian is preceded by the Barstovian and followed by the Hemphillian The Hemphillian North American Stage on the geologic timescale is a North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 10,300,000 to 4,900,000 years BP. It is usually considered t ... NALMA stages. Subdivisions The Clarendonian can be further divided into the substages of: * Late/Upper Clarendonian: Lower boundary source of the base of the Clarendonian (approximate) * Early/Lower Clarendonian (shares lower boundary) References Miocene life Miocene animals of North ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hemphillian
The Hemphillian North American Stage on the geologic timescale is a North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 10,300,000 to 4,900,000 years BP. It is usually considered to overlap the Tortonian age of the Late Miocene and Zanclean age of the Early Pliocene. The Hemphillian is preceded by the Clarendonian and followed by the Blancan The Blancan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 4,750,000 to 1,806,000 years BP, a period of . [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North American Land Mammal Age
The North American land mammal ages (NALMA) establishes a geologic timescale for North American fauna beginning during the Late Cretaceous and continuing through to the present. These periods are referred to as ages or intervals (or stages when referring to the rock strata of that age) and were established using geographic place names where fossil materials were obtained. System The North American land-mammal-age system was formalized in 1941 as a series of provincial land-mammal ages. The system was the standard for correlations in the terrestrial Cenozoic record of North America and was the source for similar time scales dealing with other continents. The system was revised into a formal chronostratigraphic system. This approach is nominally justified by international stratigraphic codes; it holds that first appearances of individual species in particular sections are the only valid basis for naming and defining the land-mammal ages. The basic unit of measure is the first/last ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux tribe, which comprises a large portion of the population—with nine Indian reservation, reservations in the state—and has historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 17th-largest by area, the List of U.S. states and territories by population, fifth-least populous, and the List of U.S. states and territories by population density, fifth-least densely populated of the List of U.S. states, 50 United States. Pierre, South Dakota, Pierre is the List of capitals in the United States, state capital, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Sioux Falls, with a population of about 213,900, is South Dakota's List of cities in South Dakota, most populous city. The state is bisected by the Missouri Ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nebraska
Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwest; and Wyoming to the west. Nebraska is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 16th-largest state by land area, with just over . With a population of over 2 million as of 2024, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 38th-most populous state and the List of states and territories of the United States by population density, eighth-least densely populated. Its List of capitals in the United States, capital is Lincoln, Nebraska, Lincoln, and its List of municipalities in Nebraska, most populous city is Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha, which is on the Missouri River. Nebraska was admitted into the United States in 1867, two years after the end of the American Civil War. The Nebras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ogallala Aquifer
The Ogallala Aquifer () is a shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay, and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. As one of the world's largest aquifers, it underlies an area of approximately in portions of eight states (South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas). It was named in 1898 by geologist N. H. Darton from its type locality near the town of Ogallala, Nebraska. The aquifer is part of the High Plains Aquifer System, and resides in the Ogallala Formation, which is the principal geologic unit underlying 80% of the High Plains. Large-scale extraction for agricultural purposes started after World War II due partially to center pivot irrigation and to the adaptation of automotive engines to power groundwater wells. Today about 27% of the irrigated land in the entire United States lies over the aquifer, which yields about 30% of the ground water used for irrigation in the United State ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
