Texas Almanac, 1949-1950 Page: 153
[674] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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PHYSIOGRAPHY OF TEXAS.
Physiographic Regions and
Subregions of TexasCOASTAL PLAINS
Rio Grande Plain and
Lower Valley
Coastal Prairies
Pine Belt
Post Oak Belt
Blacklands
NORTH CENTRAL
PLAINS
Grand Prairie
West and East Cross
Timbers
Rolling Prairies
Burnet-Llano AreaGREAT PLAINS
Staked, or High, Plains
North Plains
South Plains
Edwards Plateau
Hill Country
TRANS-PECOS
Stockton Plateau
Big Bend
Davis Mountain Area
Diablo Plateau
Upper Valley of Rio GrandeThe Surface of Texas
The surface of Texas is primarily the re-
sult of many ages of leveling by natural
processes of wind and water erosion and re-
deposit. Generally it is a rolling plain with
gradual descent from the Great Plains to the
Gulf Coast. The 500-mile crow flight dis-
tance from the base of the Cap Rock Escarp-
ment in Borden County to tidewater at the
nearest point drops from 2,900 feet to zero
elevation, or an average of five feet a mile.
The less regular features of the Texas sur-
face are the mountains of the Trans-Pecos,
the Cap Rock Escarpment and some rough
areas in Southwest and North Central Texas,
notably the Hill Country above the Balcones
Escarpment and hill ranges in the Stephens-
Palo Pinto-Hood-Somervell County area.
The most distinctive dividing line, physlo-
graphically, is the Balcones Fault line and the
surface escarpment that parallels it, as it ex-
tends from the Rio Grande near Del Rio first
in an easterly and then northeasterly direc-
tion. Above it recent erosion is general
though there are some considerable areas of
deposited soils. Below the surface of the
earth is usually of recent deposit.
Another line of distinct demarcation is the
Cap Rock Escarpment at the eastern edge ofthe Staked Plains. Here erosion and not a
geologic faulting accounts for the difference
above and below.
While the surface of Texas is interesting, It
does not reveal the startling complexity of
the geologic structures beneath.
Texas Mountains.
The principal mountains of Texas are
found in the Trans-Pecos where eastern
ranges of the Rocky Mountain system cross
from New Mexico to *"Old" Mexico. Highest
are those of the Guadalupe range, rising to
a maximum elevation in Guadalupe Peak,
8,751 feet. Nowhere at a more easterly point
in the United States is there a mountain as
high. El Capitan has an altitude of 8,078 feet.
This majestic range rises 5,000 feet above the
Salt Flats at its base. It projects from New
Mexico into Texas in the northwestern part
of Culberson County.
The Davis Mountains, centering in Jeff
Davis County, are second in general eleva-
tion among Texas ranges and the highest
*A designation sometimes used to distinguish
the state of New Mexico from the sister republic
south of the Rio Grande. The expression is not
as much in use today as formerly.153
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Texas Almanac, 1949-1950, book, 1949; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117167/m1/155/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.