The Ogallala Formation

© Robert E. Gentet 2020

The extensive debris beds are found to the east of the Rockies extending more than 800 miles from South Dakota to Texas and almost 400 miles wide in places. They have become known as the Ogallala Formation. Its thickness varies in Kansas from up to 300 feet in the northwestern part of the state to perhaps 600 feet in southwest Kansas. It is the result of massive erosion from the Rockies after the Western Interior Sea had disappeared. In addition, large amounts of water is trapped within the formation. The Ogallala has been used as a much needed aquifer in the now arid parts of the high plains east of the Rockies. It is one more gift from God to us from the geologic past.