Sandstone reservoirs deposited in microtidal barrier systems contain large oil and gas reserves in several Gulf Coast Basin plays.

Bedded salt of the Permian San Andres Formation, Palo Duro Basin, Texas, is under consideration for the isolation of high-level nuclear waste.

Silver deposits occur in Precambrian, Permian, and Cretaceous red-bed sequences near Van Horn, Texas. These deposits are geochemically similar and contain economically important quantities of silver, copper, and lead, as well as anomalously high amounts of arsenic, zinc, cadmium, and molybdenum. Gold is not enriched.

On August 18, 1983, Hurricane Alicia crossed the upper Texas Gulf Coast and caused extensive property damage, especially along West Beach of Galveston Island.

Many modern shore zones comprise a continuum of depositional environments that encompass both strandplain and barrier-island systems. Strandplains are further subdivided into two classes: sand-rich beach-ridge plains and mud-rich chenier plains.