Llano Estacado [key] or Staked Plain, level, semiarid, plateaulike region of the S Great Plains, c.40,000 sq mi (103,600 sq km), E N.Mex. and W Tex., between the Pecos River and the Cap Rock escarpment. The High Plains of the Texas Panhandle (c.4,000 ft/1,220 m high), centered around Amarillo, are usually distinguished from the somewhat lower South Plains (c.2,500 ft/760 m), centered around Lubbock, Tex. Both are windswept grasslands. Formerly used for cattle ranching, the plains are dotted with dryland and irrigated farms as well as oil and natural-gas fields.
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