Caprock Escarpment

{{Short description|Geographical transition in Texas and New Mexico}}

{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}

{{Infobox landform

|name = Caprock Escarpment

|type = Escarpment

|photo = Caprock Escarpment Garza County Texas 2010.jpg

|caption = Caprock Escarpment, Garza County, Texas

|photo_width = 300

|location=New Mexico and Texas, United States

|elevation_ft = 1647

|coordinates = {{coord|34|54|35|N|104|04|08|W|display=inline,title}}

|geology = Caliche

|age = Quaternary

|map_image = LlanoEstacadoShadedRelief.jpg

|map_caption = The Caprock Escarpment marking the edge of the Llano Estacado is clearly visible in this shaded relief image. The escarpment can be seen on the eastern edge of the Llano, running roughly in a north–south line through the middle of the Panhandle of Texas.

}}

File:Northwest Escarpment Llano Estacado 2003.jpg overlooking Alamogordo Valley of Quay and Guadalupe Counties, New Mexico.]]

The Caprock Escarpment is a term used in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico to describe the geographical transition point between the level High Plains of the Llano Estacado and the surrounding rolling terrain.{{cite web| url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rxc01 |title=Caprock |work=Handbook of Texas Online|accessdate=March 1, 2013 |author= Carroll, H.B.}}

In Texas, the escarpment stretches around {{convert|200|mi|km|abbr=on}} south-southwest from the northeast corner of the Texas Panhandle near the Oklahoma border. The escarpment is especially notable, from north to south, in Briscoe, Floyd, Motley, Crosby, Dickens, Garza, and Borden Counties.

In New Mexico, a prominent escarpment exists along the northernmost extension of the Llano Estacado, especially to the south of San Jon and Tucumcari, both in Quay County, New Mexico. Along the western edge of the Llano Estacado, the portion of the escarpment that stretches from Caprock to Maljamar, New Mexico, is called the Mescalero Ridge.Price, A.P. 1977. Mescalero Sandhills of Cochran and Yoakum Counties, Texas. Master's thesis, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, 253 pp.Henderson, D. 2006. An Introduction to the Mescalero Sands Ecosystem. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University, 42 pp.