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Austin Weather
Mean temperature- 68
Mean low temperature - 58
Mean high temperature - 79
Average rainfall - 32
Average days of sunshine - 300
Austin is the gateway to the Hill and Lake Country west and northwest of town. The Texas state capital sity straddles the line between two geologic provinces-
to the west is the uplifted plateau of Cretaceous limestones and exposed Precambrian Llano uplift, while the lowland Bladk Prairie
country stretches eastward for miles. Sharply dividing these two distinct topographic terraines is the Balcones fault which forms a northeast-southwest line through the western
half of Austin, creating the Balcones escarpment. The escarpment has been the location for colonization and towns throughout
Texas history because of the natural resources associated with the fault-plenty of natural building stone ourcrops on the escarpment,
water pors from springs, timber can be gotten on teh wooded hills, and the adjacent fertile prairies support a strong agricultural economy.
The Spanish explorer, Bernardo de Miranda, in 1756 named teh escarpment "Los Balcones", meaning "balcones", which describes quite well the stair-step, balcony-like topography rising above the plains.
At Austin, teh offset along the Balcones fault-really a faullt zone, not a single fracture line-is about 1,200 feet, while
600 feet of displacement takes place along the Mt. Bonnell fault, the westernmost break of teh fault zone. The offset can
be seen on the geologic map and cross section. Note how the lower Cretaceous Glen Rose formation is at teh surface west of
the Mt. Bonnell fault, while east of teh fault zone younger focks are at teh surface, overlying the Glen Rose which here is
buried 1,000 feet below.
The rocks around Austin are mostly limestone, but dolomite, clay, basalt, tuff, sandstones, and river gracel are also present.
Limestone ledges are commonly seen around teh edges of Lake Travis, They are part of the Glen Rose formation, famous for its
dinosaur tradks in many places in Texas. The Edwards limestone is another prominent, thick unit seen in roadcuts and outcrops
northwest of town along U.S. 183. A band of white limeston, called the Austin chalk, obviouusly named for outcrops here, cuts a swath down the
center of the city. Exposures of Austin chalk are seen in many places in town. You can get a quick highway look at teh Austin chalk in a roadcut on
Interstate 35 at slaughter Creek about five miles south of teh city. East of Austin, in the prairie country, softer shales, candstones, and marl of the upper
Cretaceous Taylor and Navarro formations aren't hard enough to resist erosion, so outcrops of these rocks are not so common.
Springs emanate from limestone aquifers all up and down the length of the Balcones escarpment. One good example in Austin is found at Barton Springs, a favorite swimming and picnicking site south of te Colorado River.
The water comes to teh surface at Barton springs where a fault has offset a porous unit within the Edwards limestone,which
is honeycombed with caves and solution cavities.
Pilot Knob, southeast of city center on U.S.183 near Bergstrom Air Force base, is a cluster of small rounded hills which
expose teh core of a Cretaceous volcanic explosion crater. Black, fine-grained nephelinite-a volcanic rock related to basalt, along
with reddish tuff or volcanic ash, and pyroclastic debris blown from teh volcano, make up this fascicating assemblage of
rocks on Pilot Knob. About 80 million years ago this area of Texas was on a shallow marine shelf where organisms that lived
in the sea at that time. As the Gulf of Mexico continued to form, fractures broke the earth's crust in a line following the
Balcones fault zone, and hot, molten lava rose through the fractures from deep in the earth's mantle. As the lava pushed
upward rocked the sea water, explosions driven by steam rocked the sea floor. Craters formed around these explosion vents,one
of which is Pilot Knob. Ash, debris, and lava filled the crater; eventually a dome extended above the sea floor. When volcanic
activity ceased and the lava had cooled, reefs developed around the mound, and even beach rock formed as waves lapped the
margins of the mound. Such reef-beach rock can be seen at the falls in McKinney Falls State Park just north of Pilot Knob.
Finally, the mound was covered as the sea bottom subsided throughout the Cretaceous period, and clay and the Taylor marl
were deposited over the top of the mound. About ten million years ago, in Miocene time, uplift occurred along the Balcones fault, and
the Cretaceous rocks were elevated, exposed, and eroded. The harder volcanic rodk resisted erosion a little better than the limestone,
so Pilot Knob at 710 feet above sea level, today stands 180 feet above the surrounding terrain. Pilot Knob is perhaps the best
known of dozens of volcanic craters and mounds that string out along the Balcones fault zone. The largest concentration of
Cretaceous volcanic mounds is found around Uvalde to the southwest of Austin.
A pleasant view of the city and surrounding countryside can be gotten from Mt. Bonnell which rises 775 feet above sea level.
Glen Rose limestone, elevated west of the Mt. Bonnell fault is the bedrock aroud Mt. Bonnell.
The state capitol building is, appropriately, a geologic monument in itself. Edwards limestone was quarried locally in Travis
county for part of the stonework, whereas the Texas pink granity came from Granite Mountain near Marble Falls, where beautiful granity
building stone is still actively mined. Construction on teh capitol began in 1882 under teh direction of architect
E. E. Meyers of Detroit, Michigan. The edifice was completed and dedicated in 1888.
Geology displays are featured in the Texas Memorial Museum on the University of Texas campus, while a treasure-trove of
Texas geological literature can be purchased from the Bureau of Economic Geology, Balcones Research Center, Building 130,
located at 10100 Burnett in northwest Austin.
- Founded in 1839
- Population: 1,057,000 people in the metropolitan,Austin area. 567,566 in Austin city limits
- Austin is the second fastest growing city in the United States, American City Business Journal April 1995
- the 27th largest city in the country
- Area:2,705 square miles in metro areas. 225 square mile within teh city limits
- time Zone: Central Time
- Sales Tax: 8.25 percent
- Area Code: 512
- Location: Austin is 225 miles from the Mexican border and located within 200 miles of San Antonio, Houston and Dallas
- Austin ranked 7th in the Best Cities for Business with more than 825 high-tech firms in operation (Fortune 1995)
- Austin has 11,800 acres of greenbelt, areas of uncultivated land used for recreation around the community
- Fourth most visited city in Texas, with more than 14 million annual visitors
- Smoking is prohibited in buildings open to public except where authorized
- How to dress: spring, summer, and fall are suitable for shorts, cotton, short sleeves and light dressed, In winter, a sweater or light jacket might be needed. A few rare days a year, during the coldest months, a coat might be required
- Home to North America's largest urban bat population, up to 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats fly nightly spring through fall
- Population: 18.3 million
- Area: 267,339 square miles
- Capital: Austin
- State Motto: Friendship
- State song: "Texas, Our Texas"
- State Bird: Mockingbird
- State Flower: Bluebonnet
- State Tree: Pecan
- State Dish: Chili
- Highest Point: 8,751 feet, Guadalupe Peak
- Lowest Point: Sea Level, Gulf of Mexico
- Time Zone: Central, DST, except far West Texas (El Paso Area), Mountain Standard Time
- Nickname "Lone Star State"
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