WICHITA AND ANCESTRAL ROCKIES SYSTEMS AND THE TEXAS FORELAND 



239 



the crust on either side at a more rapid rate than the arch itself. A 

 structural relief of 3000 to 4000 feet appears to have formed during 

 these times. Still further arching occurred in post-Paleozoic time, accentu- 

 ating the structural relief. 



Muenster anticline. The Muenster anticline or arch is the south- 

 eastern end of the Amarillo Wichita uplift. See Fig. 15.4. Like the 

 Amarillo Range it is completely buried and was rangelike at the time 

 of uplift, during the Pennsylvanian. Altogether the Amarillo-Wichita- 

 Muenster alignment makes up an uplift with a Precambrian core and 

 flanking truncated Lower and Middle Paleozoic strata 350 miles long. 



Criner Hills. The Criner Hills are a complexly faulted horst con- 

 sisting largely of Arbuckle limestone which is exposed at the surface 

 and is flanked by Pennsylvanian and Permian strata. The horst is the east 

 end of an anticline off the Amarillo-Wichita uplift. See Figs. 15.4 and 

 ' 15.6. 



Matador Arch. The Matador arch as here defined is made up of a 



narrow series of east-west-trending buried granite hills which extend 



from the New Mexico line across the Llano Estacado to Wichita Falls 



and beyond, a length of some 300 miles. If the overlying Cretaceous 



and late Paleozoic deposits were removed, the uplift would be found 



j to consist of scattered peaks rising above an upland. Strong faults and 



folds trend obliquely across the uplift in a northwest direction, and these 



; have produced an en echelon character to the topography (the buried 



J peaks) and to the "highs" of the overlying formations. The Upper 



! Pennsylvanian rests directly on the Precambrian in some localities. 



Parts or all of the Matador arch have variously been called the Red 



River uplift, the Electra arch, and the Matador arch. The term Matador 



arch appears to be gaining general acceptance. The string of small 



uplifts produced islands in the Pennsylvanian seas and because of this 



j the feature has also been called the Matador archipelago. 



Palo Duro and Hardeman Basins. The general depression between 



j the Amarillo-Wichita uplift and the Matador arch is filled with Pennsyl- 



! vanian and Permian sediments, and has a western and an eastern divi- 



j sion, as may be seen on Fig. 15.4. The western is the Palo Duro basin and 



the eastern the Hardeman basin. Various names have been used for the 



Fig. 15.4. Generalized paleogeologic map, Texas and Oklahoma, of pre-Pennsylvanian rocks. 

 Black is sub-Pennsylvanian and Permian outcrop of Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, ond De- 

 vonian formation. Hachured area is Precambrian. Mississippian outcrops not shown. After Totten 

 (1956), Flawn (1956), and others. The Pennsylvanian and Permian cover has been eroded away 

 in places in the Wichita and Arbuckle and in the Llano uplift. Doming of the Marathon uplift 

 is post-Cretaceous. H.A., Hunton arch; A. A., Arbuckle anticline; C.H., Criner Hills anticline; M.A., 

 Muenster anticline; Cent. Bas. Pf., Central Basin platform; O.C.A., Oklahoma City anticline. 



features of this region as drilling has progressed and the geology become 

 better understood. 



Arbuckle Mountains. Topographically the Arbuckle Mountains are 

 the hills between Davis and Ardmore, and are the surface expression of 



