Sediments of the Texas inner shelf are generally fine grained; coarse clasts ( > 0.5 mm) are uncommon (< 1%) over much of the area. Higher concentrations of coarse material, however, occur in discrete areas that apparently represent positions of foyer deltas.

The environmentally sensitive trace elements molybdenum, arsenic, and selenium are concentrated with uranium in ore deposits in South Texas. Cattle grazing in some pastures in mining areas have contracted molybdenosis, a cattle disease resulting from an imbalance of molybdenum and copper.

Since early 1977, the Bureau of Economic Geology has been evaluating several salt-bearing basins within the State of Texas as part of the national nuclear repository program.

Lower Permian (Wolfcampian) strata of the Palo Duro Basin consist of thick, terrigenous clastic and carbonate facies that were deposited in (1) fan-delta, (2) high-constructive delta, (3) carbonate shelf and shelf-margin, and (4) slope and basinal systems.

Pennsylvanian clastic and carbonate strata were deposited in a variety of environments within the Palo Duro Basin. Maximum accumulation (totaling 750 m or 2,400 ft) occurred along a northwest-southeast axis.