Speleology Commons^™

Unconfined Hypogene Evaporite Karst: West Texas And Southeastern New Mexico, Usa, Kevin W. Stafford, Jon T. Ehrhart, Adam F. Majzoub, Jessica M. Shields, Wesley A. Brown

Faculty Publications

Diverse karst phenomena occur throughout the Gypsum Plain where the Castile Formation crops out over ~1800 km² in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Hypergene karst is extensive and widespread, while traditional hypogene karst manifestations (both caves and intrastratal dissolution) occur in high frequency in the western outcrop region where surface denudation has been the greatest so as to induce surficial breaching. Unconfined hypogene karst occurrences have been recently identified, including two general variations: 1) artesian-like discharge features; and 2) venting structures. Artesian-like discharge features arise at surficially-breached hypogene caves and through high permeability regions on the margins of …

Delineation Of Karst Geohazards Along Rm 652 Through The Use Of Ground Penetrating Radar: Culberson County, Texas, Aaron A. Eaves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Delaware Basin is the western member of the larger Permian Basin, and is located in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas and New Mexico. The Delaware Basin hosts significant evaporite karst geohazards throughout the Gypsum Plain of the Castile Formation, where geohazards of all scales form beneath and immediately adjacent to major infrastructure throughout the region, especially Ranch-to-Market 652, including geohazards ranging from small scale dissolution of road base, to large scale cave and sinkhole development. Gypsum sourced from the Castile and Rustler formations was used to create the road base of this RM652 , which meteoric waters have easily …

Characterization And Delineation Of Karst Geohazards Along Rm652 Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Culberson County, Texas, Adam F. Majzoub

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Delaware Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico is the major western subdivision of the Permian Basin and a northern extension of the Chihuahuan Desert. The major evaporite unit within the Delaware Basin is the Castile Formation, which consists of gypsum/anhydrite and is highly susceptible to dissolution and karsting. Manifestations of karst within the Castile outcrop are abundant and include sinkholes, subsidence features and caves, both epigene and hypogene in origin.

Land reconnaissance surveys conducted during the summer of 2015 documented abundant karst landforms in close proximity to a major thoroughfare, RM 652, in Culberson County, Texas. 2D …

Speleogenesis And Delineation Of Megaporosity And Karst Geohazards Through Geologic Cave Mapping And Lidar Analyses Associated With Infrastructure In Culberson County, Texas, Jon T. Ehrhart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gypsum Plain region of the Delaware Basin hosts approximately 1800 km² of the Castile Formation outcrop. A myriad of karstic developments from closed sinkholes to large multi-kilometer cave systems have been documented within the region. Karst studies on the distribution and speleogenetic evolution within Castile strata began within the last decade with ever increasing data resolution. In this study, a combination of both physical field surveys and analyses of high resolution (~30 cm accuracy) LiDAR data was used to create a theoretical model for karst development across the region. This idealized model considers speleogenetic formation type variations (hypogene …