Mount Blanco

Mount Blanco viewed from above

Highest point
Elevation| 3,074 ft (937 m)
Coordinates| 33°47′29″N 101°15′11″W﻿ / ﻿33.79139°N 101.25306°W﻿ / 33.79139; -101.25306
Geography

Mount Blanco

Geology
Age of rock| Blancan, Quaternary
Mountain type| Butte

Mount Blanco is a small white hill — an erosional remnant — located on the eastern border of the Llano Estacado within Blanco Canyon in Crosby County, Texas.[1] With Blanco Canyon, it is the type locality of the Blanco Formation[2] of Texas and Kansas, as well as the Blancan fauna, which occurs throughout North America.[3][4]

## Geology[edit]

The term "Blanco Canyon beds", later shortened to "Blanco beds", was first applied to this formation in 1890 by William F. Cummins of the Geological Survey of Texas.[5] The Blanco beds are considered to be of lacustrine origin – deposited in a Pleistocene lake basin set upon the Ogallala Formation of Pliocene age, which underlies the upper surface sediments of the Llano Estacado.[6] The thickness of the Blanco beds varies from around 22 to 26 m (72 to 85 ft) thick.[7] The formation mainly consists of light-gray, fine-grained mudstone, sandstone, and some conglomerate. These light-colored sediments contrast sharply with the locally rust-colored sediments of the Ogallala Formation.

### Fossil fauna[edit]

All fossil fauna are from Mount Blanco modified from Dalquest (1975) unless otherwise noted.[8]

* Class Mammalia
* Order Perissodactyla
* Family Equidae
* †Equus cumminsi
* †Equus simplicidens
* †Nannippus peninsulatus
* Order Artiodactyla
* Family Antilocapridae
* Family Camelidae
* †Blancocamelus meadei
* †Camelops traviswhitei
* †Canimartes cumminsi
* †Titanotylopus spatulus
* Family Cervidae
* †Odocoileus brachyodontus
* Family Tayassuidae
* †Platygonus biccalcaratus
* †Tanupolama blancoensis
* Superorder Edentata
* Family †Glyptodontidae
* †Glyptotherium texanum
* Family Megalonychidae
* †Megalonyx leptostomus
* Family †Mylodontidae
* †Glossotherium chapadmalens
* Order Lagomorpha
* Family Leporidae
* †Hypolagus sp.
* †Nekrolagus progressus
* Order Proboscidea
* Family †Gomphotheriidae
* †Stegomastodon mirificus
* Order Carnivora
* Family Canidae
* †Borophagus diversidens
* †Canis lepophagus
* Family Felidae
* †Felis cf. lacustris
* †Dinofelis palaeoonca
* †Homotherium
* Family Ursidae
* †Arctotherium?
* Family Hyaenidae
* †Chasmaporthetes ossifragus
* Family Mustelidae
* †Canimartes cummins
* †Spilogale rexroadi
* Order Rodentia
* Family Sciuridae
* †Paenemarmota barbouri
* Spermophilus sp.
* †Spermophilius howelli
* Family Geomyidae
* Geomys sp.
* Family Heteromyidae
* †Perognathus parlettensis
* †Perognathus rexroadensis
* †Prodipomys centralis
* Family Cricetidae
* Baiomys sp.
* †Bensonomys sp.
* †Neotoma quadriplicatus
* Onychomys sp.
* † Peromyscus kansasensis
* Reithrodontomys sp.
* †Sigmodon medius
* Class Reptilia
* Order Testudinata
* Family Testudinidae
* Geochelone sp.

## Images[edit]

* Early photo of Mount Blanco (1891)[9]

* Mount Blanco viewed from east (2002)

## See also[edit]

* Blancan
* Blanco Canyon
* Caprock Escarpment
* Double Mountain Fork Brazos River
* Duffy's Peak
* Mushaway Peak
* White River (Texas)
* Yellow House Canyon

## References[edit]

1. ^ Holliday, V.T. 1988. Mt. Blanco revisited: soil-geomorphic implications for the ages of the Upper Cenozoic Blanco and Blackwater Draw Formations. Geology 16(6):505-508.
2. ^ "Geologic Unit: Blanco". National Geologic Database. Geolex — Unit Summary. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
3. ^ Cope, E.D. 1892. A contribution to a knowledge of the fauna of the Blanco beds of Texas. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 44:226-229.
4. ^ Schultz, G.E. 1977. Blancan and post-Blancan faunas in the Texas Panhandle. In: Schultz, G.E. (ed), Guidebook: Field conference on late Cenozoic biostratigraphy of the Texas Panhandle and adjacent Oklahoma: West Texas State University, Kilgore Research Center, Special Publication 1, pp. 105-145.
5. ^ Cummins, W.F. 1890. The Permian of Texas and its overlying beds. In: Dumble, E.T. (ed), First annual report of the Geological Survey of Texas 1889, pp. 183-197.
6. ^ Izett, G.A., Wilcox, R.E., and Borchardt, G. 1972. Correlation of a volcanic ash bed in Pleistocene deposits near Mount Blanco, Texas, with the Guaje Pumice Bed of the Jemez Mountains, NM. Quaternary Research 2:554-578.
7. ^ Evans, G.L. 1948. Geology of the Blanco beds of West Texas. In: Colbert, E.H. (ed), Pleistocene of the Great Plains (symposium). Geological Society of America Bulletin No. 59, pp. 617-619.
8. ^ Dalquest, W. W. 1975. Vertebrate Fossils from the Blanco Local Fauna of Texas. Occasional Papers The Museum Texas Tech University 30:1-52.
9. ^ Cummins, W.F. 1892. Report on the geography, topography, and geology of the Llano Estacado or Staked Plains. In: Dumble, E.T. (ed), Third annual report of the Geological Survey of Texas 1891, pp. 129-223.

## External links[edit]

* Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum
* Public domain images of the Llano Estacado and West Texas

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