124 THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 



the sedimentaries from the axis of the mountains, exposing the 

 granite. In the case of the Ouachitas the granite is yet covered. 



We are learning these days that not all the mountains in Okla- 

 homa are exposed on the surface. The most conspicuous examp'e 

 of a buried mountain range, at least the one that has attracted 

 most attention, is the Nemaha mountains of Kansas. For many 

 years geologists have known that there was a row of well-marked 

 dom.es and anticlines, extending north and south across east cen- 

 tral Kansas, but it was not until along about 1915, when wells v^ere 

 drilled on these structures in the search for oil ana gas, that we 

 learned, ma'.ch to our surprise, that these surface structures were 

 superimposed on buried granite peaks. Something- like 40 or 50 

 wells have touched granite along a definite line, and we are 

 now in position to say that the Nemaha mountains extend from 

 somewhere near the mouth of the Platte river in southeastern Ne- 

 braska, entire'y across Kanias and into Kay county, Oklahoma, a 

 distance of more than 250 miles. At one point near the Kansas- 

 Nebraska line, the granite approaches to within about 550 feet of 

 the surface, but deepens to the south, until in northern Oklahoma, 

 it is over 4U0O feet deep. 



Another buried granite range is now known to extend north- 

 west-southeast across southern Oklahoma and the Panhandle of 

 Texas. A series of very prominent structures in the Amarillo coun- 

 try in the northern part of the Panhandle of Texas, have developed 

 into a tremendous, gas field. Something like 8 or 10 wells located 

 on these structures, and at least four wells in direct line between 

 these structures and the Wichita mountains have encountered 

 granite. Enough data are now aval' able to postulate a mountain 

 range extending from near Caddo, Oklahoma, northwest along the 

 Arbuckle-Wichita axis, and across the Panhandle of Texas, as far 

 as the New Mexico line. To the buried part of the range located 

 in southeastern Oklahoma and the Panhandle of Texas, the name 

 Amarillo mountams has been applied. The entire known length of 

 the range is about 400 miles, 



A third possible buried range lies along Red River in southern 

 Oklaliom.a and northern Texas, extending from the Petrclia field 

 in Clay county, southeast for a distance of about 50 mi'es. At least 

 8 wells along this line have encountered granite. 



Studies m.ade by various men during the past several years 

 would indicate that there is a probable buried range paralleling 

 the Arbuckles on the south side, visible expression of which are 

 the Preston anticline, the Criner Hills and the Healdton, Loco and 

 Comanche domes. 



