Report of Investigations

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The Rustler Springs sulphur deposits as a source of fertilizer
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1946) Evans, Glen L. (Glen Louis), 1911-
The occurrence of sulphur in the vicinity of Rustler Springs in northeastern Culberson County, Texas, has been known since 1854 when, according to Phillips (1902, pp. 13, 71), the mineral was recognized by William P. Blake, a geologist attached to a U.S. War Department expedition making a survey of a railroad route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. In the latter part of the 19th century and first part of the 20th century the Rustler Springs district was regarded as a favorable potential source for domestic supplies of native sulphur. The purpose of the present report is to review briefly the geology of the Rustler Springs district, describe the occurrence of some of the acidic sulphur earth deposits, insofar as that is possible at their present state of exposure, and discuss some of the economic aspects involved in production of mineral fertilizer from these deposits. The report is based upon a review of the available literature and short field examinations made by the writer during 1942, 1943, and 1946 and should be regarded as a progress report.
Ouachita facies in central Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1948) Barnes, Virgil E. (Virgil Everett), 1903-1998
Steeply dipping shales and interbedded sandstones presumably of the Ouachita facies have been discovered along the Colorado River in Burnet and Travis counties, Texas. Previously the Ouachita facies was known in Texas only from bore-hole samples. The outcropping rocks are not metamorphosed, whereas many of the borehole samples described in the literature are metamorphosed. A re-examination shows that the bore-hole samples nearest the outcrop lack metamorphism, except for slight changes along slickensides, whereas away from the outcrop the rocks are progressively more metamorphosed, until in Caldwell County, the farthest point reached, the rocks are schist. Lithologies and grade of metamorphism suggest that the Caldwell County bore holes enter the Ouachita facies rather than rocks of pre-Cambrian age.
Stratigraphy and petrology of Buck Hill quadrangle, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1949) Goldich, Samuel S., 1909-
The Barrilla Mountains, in the northeastern part of the Davis Mountains of Trans-Pecos Texas, are composed of Tertiary volcanic materials. Five tuffs and five lava flows, 1500 feet thick occurring throughout the mountains, persist in thickness and lithologic characteristics. Their upper surfaces show little erosion. The lavas are chiefly silicic and soda rich. The volcanic succession is underlain by a Tertiary sandstone above Upper Cretaceous marine formations. These were slightly deformed by the Laramide revolution, subsequently beveled, and everywhere covered by the sands of coalescing streams. The sandstone contains well-rounded chert and quartzite pebbles. Broad folds and normal faults succeeded the extrusions of the youngest lava.
Successional speciation in paleontology : the case of the oysters of the sellaeformis stock
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1949) Stenzel, H. B. (Henryk Bronislaw), 1899-
The successional mode of speciation of Julian Huxley (1942) may be defined as gradual transformation of one species into a successor species, or several of them, during the course of geologic time without primarily involving geographic, ecologic, or adaptive segregation. The purpose of this paper is to present a particular case of such a mode of speciation and to discuss problems involved therein. The example chosen is the stock of Cubitostrea sellaeformis (Conrad) [Mollusca, Pelecypoda], which contained 4 separate successional species of oysters and lived in Middle Eocene time in the ancient Gulf of Mexico.
Correlation of gravity observations with the geology of the Coal Creek serpentine mass, Blanco and Gillespie Counties, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1949) Romberg, Frederick
Gravitational observations were made of the pre-Cambrian Coal Creek serpentine mass in Blanco and Gillespie Counties, Texas, the geology of which had been mapped previously. The observed gravitational anomalies indicate roughly the depth of the serpentine mass below which it may possibly grade into its parent peridotitic rock. Probable correlation between the gravitational map and the other geologic features of the area is indicated.
Iron ore in the Llano region, central Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1949) Barnes, Virgil E. (Virgil Everett), 1903-1998
The magnetic iron-ore prospects of the Llano region of central Texas were investigated in a program which combined dip-needle and gravity-meter surveys by the Bureau of Economic Geology of The University of Texas and the U.S. Geological Survey with exploration by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Magnetic observations were made on the Iron Mountain, the Bader, the Gamble, and the Olive mine prospects. Gravity observations were made over the first three areas, which subsequently were drilled. Approximately 65,000 long tons of ore is indicated for the Iron Mountain deposit. The investigations indicate the applicability of combined dip-needle and gravity-meter surveys in search of magnetic iron-ore deposits.
Subsurface Woodford black shale, West Texas and southeast New Mexico
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1950) Ellison, Samuel P., 1914-
The geographic distribution, lithology, thickness, and paleontology of the subsurface Woodford in the Permian basin are described and illustrated. On the basis of conodonts and spores, the Woodford is assigned to the Upper Devonian and correlated with the Ready Pay member of the Percha shale in New Mexico, Woodford and Chattanooga of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas, and tentatively correlated with the Upper Devonian parts of the Caballos novaculite and Arkansas novaculite of Texas and Arkansas. The lithology and paleontology suggest a stagnant marine environment such as might be found in a partly enclosed arm of the sea. The postulated limits of this sea are outlined.
Geology of the Barrilla Mountains, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1950-12) Eifler, Jr., G.K.
The Barrilla Mountains, in the northeastern part of the Davis Mountains of Trans-Pecos Texas, are composed of Tertiary volcanic materials. Five tuffs and five lava flows, 1500 feet thick occurring throughout the mountains, persist in thickness and lithologic characteristics. Their upper surfaces show little erosion. The lavas are chiefly Silicic and soda rich. The volcanic succession is underlain by a Tertiary sandstone above Upper Cretaceous marine formations. These were slightly deformed by the Laramide revolution, subsequently beveled, and everywhere covered by the sands of coalescing streams. The sandstone contains well-rounded chert and quartzite pebbles. Broad folds and normal faults succeeded the extrusions of the youngest lava.
Pegmatites of the Van Horn Mountains, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1951) Flawn, Peter Tyrell
Zoned and unzoned perthite-quartz-plagioclase-muscovite pegmatites in the form of tabular bodies, irregular bodies with tabular branches, irregular masses, elongate lenses, lit-par-lit zones, and small augen and stringers are distributed throughout the Precambrian metasedimentary rocks of the Mica Mine area, Van Horn Mountains, Texas. Zoned bodies have a core of erthite and quartz and a plagioclase-quartz-perthite-muscovite wall zone. The pegmatites contain numerous schist inclusions, and some show evidence of contamination by biotite schist and amphibolite. Intimate penetration of the host rock by pegmatite fluids was accomplished by a combination of dilation and digestion. Dilation was effected by injection pressure and (to an unknown degree) orogenic stresses. Crystallization of a solution containing a large excess of potash took place in a closed or restricted system where a delicate balance of solubility factors was maintained for long periods or in a solution of low viscosity, thus facilitating growth of large crystals about a limited number of centers. Zoning and textural relationships are accounted for under these conditions. The importance of horizon and mode of emplacement in the formation of pegmatite textures and shapes is emphasized. A review of the granitization, palingenesis or anatexis, open-system (or aqueous), and magmatic theories of pegmatite origin shows that the features of Mica Mine pegmatites are best explained by the magmatic theory. The Mica Mine area has possibilities of exploitation for feldspar and scrap mica.
Buried hill at Wilcox-Carrizo contact in east Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1951) Stenzel, H. B. (Henryk Bronislaw), 1899-
A recently discovered buried hill, at least 77 feet high, is composed of strata of the Wilcox group (lower Eocene) and covered on its flanks by cross-bedded sands of the lower Carrizo and at the top by level-bedded shales and silts of the upper Carrizo formation. Peculiar small funnel-shaped pits filled with Carrizo sand extend into the underlying Wilcox ball clay at the peak of the hill. Other extensions fill shrinkage cracks of the clay. These and other features of the contact demonstrate a disconformity at the base of the Carrizo sand caused by rejuvenation that occurred shortly before Carrizo sand deposition.
Correlation between surface and subsurface sections of the Ellenburger group of Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1952) Hendricks, Leo
The Ellenburger of Texas was first defined as a marine limestone formation of Cambrian and Ordovician age (Paige, 1912), but recently it has been subdivided into several formations and the term Ellenburger given group status (Cloud and Barnes, 1948). The group forms an important unit in the geology of Texas, its known extent in both surface and subsurface covering approximately one-half of the State (fig. 1). Consequently the Ellenburger has received the attention of many geologists over a period of more than forty years. The greatest amount of information concerning the Ellenburger has come from wells drilled in exploration for oil and gas. This information from the subsurface is the basis for present concepts of the lateral extent and regional changes m thickness and lithologic character of the group (Sellards, 1933b). The top of the group serves as an important key horizon for mapping structure in the subsurface of large parts of north, central, and southwest Texas (Sellards and Hendricks, 1946). Data from well samples and cores have been used to make qualitative subdivisions and correlations within the formation (Cole, 1942, p. 1398; Crowley and Hendricks, 1945, p. 413). No paleontological correlations are possible from well data because well samples and cores from the Ellenburger are practically barren of fossils.
Recognition of Hipparions and other horses in the middle Miocene mammalian faunas of the Texas Gulf region
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1952) Quinn, James Harrison
New information concerning the ancestry of the later Tertiary horses, Calippus, Protohippus (in the original sense), Hipparion, Neohipparion, and Nannippus, has been obtained from a restudy of the various mammalian farmas of the Coastal Plain in Texas, based in the main on the extensive collections of the Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas. The age, stratigraphic correlation, and composition of these faunas have been reevaluated, and the results provide new evidence that has important bearing on Miocene and Pliocene intercontinental correlations of mammalian faunas. It is the opinion of the writer that these five genera of horses, among which the three genera Hipparion, Neohipparion, and Nannippus are commonly called the Hipparion group, originated from the lower Jv[:iocene genus Parahippus and hence made their first appearance in the middle Miocene.
Geology of the Blacklands experimental watershed, near Waco, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1952) Blank, H. Richard (Horace Richard), 1929-
The Blacklands Experimental Watershed, a hydrologic research project of the Soil Conservation Service located about 15 miles southeast of Waco, Texas, is underlain by marls and chalks belonging to the Taylor group of the Gulf series of the Cretaceous system, which, in conformity with the general structure of the Gulf Coastal Plain, dip east-southeastward at an angle a little steeper than the general slope of the land surface.The lowest strata cropping out in the experimental watershed are part of the Wolfe City member of the Taylor marl and consist of about 110 feet of sandy marl containing numerous small lenses of hard calcareous sandstone. They are transitional upward into about 40 feet of silty marl, in which the sand or silt is too fine to be visible to the unaided eye. Overlying the silty marl is a stratum of hard chalk, 8 to 25 feet thick, belonging to the Pecan Gap member of the Taylor marl. There is some evidence that the chalk-silty marl contact is an unconformity. This contact is the only easily identified stratigraphic marker in the experimental area. The chalk is hard enough to have some effect on the topography and the soil depth and brittle enough to influence greatly the distribution of the ground water. The chalk is transitional upward into 90 to 100 feet of highly calcareous marl. Near the southeast corner of the experimental area this marl grades upward into another zone of about 13 feet of soft chalk, which in turn passes transitionally upward into additional highly calcareous marl. Remnants of an upland gravel, consisting merely of pebbles and cobbles scattered in the soil, occur on a few of the hilltops in the southwest corner of the experimental area and probably belong to the Uvalde (Pliocene?) formation. The valleys of Brushy Creek and its principal tributaries are partly filled with terrace alluvium consisting entirely of transported marl mixed with sand and pebbles and believed to be Pleistocene in age. Near the present stream channels there are also deposits of Recent alluvium consisting chiefly of transported soil. Partial chemical analyses and mechanical analyses of the acid-insoluble residues bring out some of the differences between the Wolfe City, Pecan Gap, and alluvial formations, as well as differences between the oxidized and unweathered rocks. The intimate relation between the rocks and the distribution of the soil series is discussed. The boundary between the Pecan Gap lower chalk and the Wolfe City silty marl is traced from Big Creek near Mart through the experimental watershed to Brazos River southwest of Marlin. It is shown that most of the chalk outcrops in this region described by other investigators correspond to the less definite upper chalk rather than to this lower zone. The Pecan Gap belt of outcrop as shown on the [U.S. Geological Survey's 1937] geologic map of Texas (Darton et al., 1937) is too narrow and too far east to include both these chalks. At some places it has been based on the lower zone, at others on the upper.
The Hazel Copper-Silver Mine, Culberson County, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1952) Flawn, Peter Tyrell
The Hazel mine is one of the oldest mines in Texas and has been the largest copper-producing property in the State. The mine has a recorded production of over 1 million pounds of copper and over million ounces of silver, and there are a number of years in which the mine was active but for which no figures are available. True production is in the neighborhood of 4 to 5 million ounces of silver and 1 million pounds of copper. The Hazel mine is the most important of a group of mines and prospects known as the Allamoore Van Horn copper district. This district lies within Culberson and Hudspeth counties in an area of pre-Cambrian rocks exposed between the scarp of the Sierra Diablo to the north and Beach and Baylor Mountains to the southeast and east. The district is bounded on the east and west by the approximate longitudes of Van Horn and Allamoore. The altitude is about 4,500 to 5,000 feet, climate is arid or semi-arid (generally less than 10 inches rain per year), and mining operations can be conducted all year. Water is obtained from wells or mine seeps. Vegetation is of a desert type and consists of various cacti, yucca, and thorny shrubs without suitable mine timber.
High purity Marble Falls limestone, Burnet County, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1952) Barnes, Virgil E. (Virgil Everett), 1903-1998
Chemical analyses show that a reef approximately 100 feet thick in the lower portionof the Marble Falls limestone near Marble Falls, Burnet County, Texas, is exceptionally pure. Only the Honeycut formation, of the other formations described, contains limestone that might be of value.The type section of the Marble Falls limestone is described, including thin-section and insoluble residue descriptions.
Geology of Agua Fria quadrangle, Brewster County, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1953) Moon, C. Gardley
The 15-minute Agua Fria quadrangle in southwestern Brewster County, Texas, is arid, sparsely vegetated, and includes diverse topographic features that result chiefly from complex structure and variation in rock resistance to erosion. The mountainous and more complicated southern part of the area has suffered much deformation by igneous intrusions and faulting. The Comanche series is represented by the Devils River limestone, Grayson marl, and Buda limestone. A disconformity separates it from the overlying gradational Gulf series which consists of the Boquillas,Terlingua, and Aguja formations. Because the Boquillas-Terlingua boundary problem is critical and unsettled, lithologic members and paleontologic zones in that section are described in considerable detail. A distinctive 50-foot rock unit, herein named the Fizzle Flat lentil, occurs about the middle of the Boquillas-Terlingua sequence. A widespread angular unconformity separates the Gulf series from the Tertiary Buck Hill volcanic series. Quaternary terrace gravels occur at different levels, and other alluvial deposits have been mapped. The Tertiary hypabyssal igneous rocks are alkalic and form stocks, laccoliths, plugs, sills, dikes, and bysmaliths or trap-door domes. Several lava flows are preserved in the southwest part of the quadrangle. Metamorphic effects generally are slight. The area is part of the Big Bend sunken block. Except where influenced by intrusive masses, a pattern of northwesterly normal faults establishes the structural trend of the area. Step faults are common. Most of the major faults are downthrown to the southwest with the huge intervening blocks tilted gently to the northeast. That much of the fault pattern was established during the Laramide revolution and that faulting recurred along the old lines of weakness fairly late in Tertiary time are postulated.
Cretaceous of Llano Estacado of Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1953) Brand, John Paul
Rocks of Cretaceous age crop out along the western margins of the deeper playa basins and along the southern and southeastern margins of the Llano Estacado. The Trinity group, containing only the Paluxy sandstone; the Fredericksburg group, consisting of the Walnut, Comanche Peak, Edwards, and Kiamichi formations; and the Washita group, containing only a portion of the Duck Creek formation, have been identified in the Llano Estacado. Formations of the Trinity and Fredericksburg groups are similar lithologically and paleontologically to equivalent units in the Callahan Divide and in the northern edge of the Edwards Plateau. Zonations, applicable to northern and central Texas and Pecos County, Texas, can be extended to the isolated Cretaceous exposures in the Llano Estacado. Cretaceous strata in the Llano Estacado dip to the southeast at the rate of 7 to 8 feet per mile. Structures in the underlying Triassic and Paleozoic do not appear to be reflected in Cretaceous strata. Likewise, the locations of the isolated Cretaceous remnants do not appear to be governed by known structures in underlying units. The Comanche Peak and Edwards limestone and the Kiamichi and Duck Creek shales are chemically suitable for the manufacture of Portland cement. The Edwards limestone is a suitable road ballast material. The sand and gravel of the Paluxy formation could be utilized in concrete aggregate.
Paleontology of the Rustler formation, Culberson County, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1953) Walter, Joseph C.
The fossils described in this paper substantiate the Permian age of the Rustler formation. The Rustler fauna is largely molluscan and has a Whitehorse aspect. Four species of the Rustler fauna are similar to species from Russian and Indian faunas, suggesting possible correlations with Upper Permian rocks. Environments have had more influence on the fauna than has geologic age, giving the Rustler fauna a striking resemblance to faunas of older Permian rocks which occupied similar biotopes. The Rustler fauna is large and varied, containing 35 species of invertebrates. Because of the fragmentary condition of the fossils, many species are uncertainly identified.
Stratigraphy and petrology of the Tascotal Mesa quadrangle, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1953) Erickson, Ralph Leroy, 1923-
The Tascotal Mesa quadrangle is in southeastern Presidio and southwestern Brewster counties, Trans Pecos Texas. Bandera Mesa and Tascotal Mesa are reached most easily from Marfa, 50 miles north, by the Marfa-Lajitas road which traverses the quadrangle from north to south. Green Valley in the northeastern part of the area is most easily reached from Marfa by the 02 Ranch road in Paradise Valley; an alternate route is from Alpine by the Terlingua highway and the 02 Ranch road. This investigation is primarily concerned with a thick succession of volcanic tuff and and related sediments with intercalated lava flows which Goldich and Elms (1949, p. 1143) named the Buck Hill volcanic series. Six months was spent in the field during the summer of 1949 and the spring of 1950. Mapping was done on aerial photographs and later transferred to the U.S. Geological Survey topographic quadrangle map (ed., 1944; surveyed in co-operation with the War Department).
Geology of Hood Spring quadrangle, Brewster County, Texas
(University of Texas at Austin. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1954) Graves, Roy William
The Hood Spring quadrangle, in the central part of Brewster County, Texas, contains a segment of the southeast rim of the Marathon basin. It includes a part of the complexly folded and faulted Paleozoic rocks that occur in the center of the Marathon basin and also includes Cretaceous rocks exposed in the Maravillas scarp. This scarp has three stratigraphically separate cuestas that are formed by southeastward gently dipping beds. The southwestern corner of the quadrangle contains a faulted and folded segment of the Santiago Mountain range. Rocks of Cambrian (Dagger Flat formation), Ordovician (Marathon, Alsate, Fort Pena, Woods Hollow, and Maravillas formations), Devonian (Caballos novaculite), and Pennsylvanian (Tesnus formation)ages occur in the area of Paleozoic outcrops. A conodont fauna from the upper part of the Caballos novaculite indicates a Middle to Upper Devonian age for those beds. Most of the Cretaceous rocks exposed in the quadrangle belong to the Comanche series (Glen Rose, Maxon, Walnut-ComanchePeak, Edwards, Kiamichi, Georgetown, Grayson, and Buda formations) and are similar to equivalent age strata in central Texas. Gulf series rocks (Boquillas and Terlingua formations) have a restricted occurrence in the southwestern corner of the quadrangle contains a faulted and folded segment of the Santiago Mountain range. Tertiary intrusions include plugs, dikes, and sills of rhyolite, trachyte, and basalt which cut Cretaceous and Paleozoic rocks. These intrusives belong to the southern Trans-Pecos Texas suite of alkalic igneous rocks.

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