The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 64, July 1960 - April, 1961 Page: 318
574 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
It is apparent, however, that the process of building up did not
proceed without modifying influences, and again the pattern of
geologic action was affected by climate. On the more humid
eastern side of the Great Plains, the rainfall was sufficiently heavy
to tear through the vegetational cover upon the earth's surface
and to erode the earth, cutting down the level of the stream de-
posits. On the west, the sparse vegetation of an arid climate was
insufficient to protect the surface from erosion and here too the
stream deposits were worn away and their elevation reduced.
These erosional processes, operating on the east and west, left a
great middle section of the plain untouched and projecting above
the eroded areas on either side. This middle section is the High
Plains, and its existence is to be explained by the fact that it lay
in a climatic area which produced sod grasses. The sod grass
cover prevented the development of a drainage system and thereby
kept erosion from getting a start. Thus, the High Plains stand
today as a remnant of a much larger plain which was reduced to
its present proportions by the forces of erosion attacking from
east and west.
The specific geology of the Texas Panhandle was worked out
in detail over a half century ago, by the pioneer geologist, Charles
N. Gould. Gould published his findings in two papers, one de-
voted to the eastern Panhandle which covered the area including
and extending northward from Armstrong, Donley, and Collings-
worth counties,3 and the other devoted to the western Panhandle
which covers the area including and extending northward from
Randall and Deaf Smith counties.4
NATURAL REGIONS
Elmer H. Johnson, an industrial geographer, has divided the
State of Texas into four major natural regions along roughly
parallel north-south lines. The western two of these regions are
represented in the Panhandle. These are the Middle Texas
Province, which includes the South Texas Plains, the Edwards
3Charles N. Gould, The Geology and Water Resources of the Eastern Portion of
the Panhandle of Texas (U. S. Geological Survey, Water-Supply and Irrigation
Paper, No. 154).
4Gould, The Geology and Water Resources of the Western Portion of the Pan-
handle of Texas. (U. S. Geological Survey, Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper,
No. 191).318
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 64, July 1960 - April, 1961, periodical, 1961; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101190/m1/353/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.