Part 3

More extensive Late Pliocene fossil beds are exposed south of the park in Cita Canyon. These beds are younger than the Ogallala and are stream and basin deposits. The fauna and flora found here suggest a broad, flat, grassy plain much like the present landscape (Figure 8). Remains of mastodons, large, elephant-like animals with long upper tusks that were used to dig up roots, are found here. Saber-tooth cats, also present, preyed upon the mastodons. The remains of these, as well as bones of camels, pony-sized horses, and sloths 10 feet high have been found in the vicinity of the canyon. Some of these animals are thought to have lived in the Panhandle a mere 10,000 years ago.

Amebelodon: shovel-tusked mastodon Teleoceras: short-legged rhinoceros Synthetoceras: snout-horned even-toed hoofed mammal Cranioceras: cranial-horned even-toed hoofed mammal Merycodus: extinct pronghorn antelope Hypolagus: extinct rabbit Epigaulus: burrowing horned rodent Aphelops: long-legged rhinoceros Prosthennops: extinct peccary Osteoborus: short-faced dog Pseudaelurus: extinct cat Hemicyon: bearlike dog Procamelus: llamalike camel Megatylopus: giant camel Pliohippus: ancestral one-toed horse Neohipparion: extinct three-toed horse

Due to limited outcrops in the Canyon proper, Pleistocene fossils are very rare. An excellent collection of fossils from Palo Duro Canyon and the Panhandle area is on display at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum.

Diamond Shamrock

QUALITY ROCK SHOP

OVERNIGHT CAMPING LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT QUALITY AGATE & JADE, FOREIGN & DOMESTIC CUSTOM SILVER, GOLD AND TURQUOISE WORK

2 Miles West of Canyon on U.S. Highway 60 Route 1, Box 211, Canyon, Texas 79015

MAGGIE & WHITEY VOELM (806) 655-7631

Search Drilling Co.

Rotary Drilling Contractors Oil & Gas Producers

SUITE 400 WELLINGTON SQUARE OFFICE PARK 1616 S. KENTUCKY AMARILLO, TEXAS 79102 (806) 359-7645

YUCCA PETROLEUM CO.

300 Diamond Shamrock Building P.O. BOX 2585 AMARILLO, TEXAS 79105 Telephone: (806) 376-5431

Argonaut Energy Corporation

GLEN S. SODERSTROM, President LORNE E. TJERNAGEL, Exec. Vice-President R. L. PATTERSON, Vice-President of Production

1209 West 7 St. Suite 200 Amarillo, Texas 79101 806/373-6885

W.M. QUACKENBUSH

Petroleum Geologist

2315 Harmony Amarillo, Texas 79106 806-355-2931

JACK G. JONES

CONSULTING PETROLEUM GEOLOGIST

Office: AC 806/352-6891 5500 Meadow Green Dr. Post Office Box 8145 Amarillo, Texas 79109

TUTHILL & BARBEE

PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS

S. KEITH TUTHILL BILL J. BARBEE

300 Fisk Bldg.

Amarillo, Texas PH. 373-3023

CAMBRIDGE & NAIL