Abstract
The Transcontinental Arch and its flanking basins dominated the landscape of North America before the rise of the Ancestral Rockies and the Wichita system. It is the SW extension of the Canadian Shield, and is partly of PreCambrian origin and partly a later development. It is found in a belt extending SW from Minnesota to New Mexico. This concealed structural feature is depicted here from comparisons of stratigraphic sections and well records. It was active from the Camnbrian through the Mississippian. During Cambrian time it was wide and uniform from the Canadian Shield to Arizona. Later, sags developed in Colorado and in Arizona. The changes in size and shape were partly positive and partly negative. PreCambrian rocks and structures have been recorded from geophysical data as well as from holes drilled for oil and gas in the intervening areas, particularly in the western half of the lowlands. The narrow NE‐trending Colorado mineral belt, containing the major mining districts of Colorado is closely related to this continental backbone. It is characterized by NE‐trending faults, and oil and mineral deposits of Laramide age.
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