The Paleontology of North America

The Tertiary in Texas, US

 map
 

See exposures in this state from the:

Quaternary
Tertiary
Cretaceous
Jurassic
Triassic
Permian
Carboniferous
Devonian
Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrian
Precambrian

Tertiary Fossils
Fossil photos from Tertiary in Texas

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Paleontology and geology

The Tertiary in Texas has a rich vertebrate fossil record. Mammalian diversity exploded as new species evolved, filling niches left by the extinction of the dinosaurs. Massive amounts of sediment washed down from the rising Rocky Mountains of the northwest into the Gulf of Mexico. Much of the High Plains and the modern Texas Coastal Plain is covered by rocks (the Ogallala Formation) formed from that sediment. Extensive volcanic activity poured lavas across the landscape in far western Texas.

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