Red Mesas of the Blaine Escarpment

Red Mesas of the Blaine Escarpment. . , The gypsum and shale buttes before you are relics of millions of years of geologic history. The white gypsum and red-brown shale were deposited in shallow seas that covered all of western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle during the Permian Period, about 250 million years ago. Later, gypsum crystals and rock layers were formed, as calcium sulfate saturated the water which was trapped in the mud of the sea floor. Over time both the shale and the gypsum were buried beneath several thousand feet of more recent sediments. , Development of the Rocky Mountains, about 65 million years ago, caused the broad uplift of the western United States. This uplift raised all of Oklahoma and surrounding areas above seal level. Subsequent and on-going erosion of the overlaying sediments exposes the layers of shale and gypsum. , Captions: Blaine Formation , Crown of white gypsum approximately 10 feet thick. , Flowerpot shale , Oldest formations cropping out in the western part of Major County. Red-brown shale with thin layers of white gypsum and dolomite with green-gray shale. , Badlands Soil , Permian redbeds consisting of shale and clay tinted by iron oxide (the mineral hematite).