Description
The Elsmere Quadrangle is located in El Paso County. The map shows the distribution of various rock types and their configuration as well as information about potential resources and hazards. The map includes cross section, map unit correlation, shaded-relief map with geology overlay, booklet of extended descriptions of map units, geologic setting and references. 27 pages. 1 color plate (1:24,000). Digital PDF download. OF-02-02D
From the Author’s Notes:
The Elsmere 7.5-minute quadrangle is at the east edge of the Colorado Springs metropolitan area, which is in the southern part of the Colorado Piedmont section of the Great Plains. This section of the Great Plains is distinguished by having been stripped of the Miocene fluvial rocks (Ogallala Formation) that cover most of the Great Plains and by having a surface that, along its boundaries, is topographically lower than the adjoining physiographic regions. Older Cenozoic rocks also have been eroded from the Colorado Piedmont, except on the higher, western part of the interfluve between the South Platte and Arkansas rivers. The Elsmere quadrangle is on the south flank of the high part of this interfluve. Consequently, the northern part of the quadrangle includes a thick section of Paleocene rocks, whereas the southern part of the quadrangle is more like the majority of the Colorado Piedmont, a region of low hills and plains underlain by Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks.
