Texas is endowed with an enormous variety of natural land resources that vary from the humid forest lands of East Texas to the vast desert lands of Trans-Pecos, from the swamps and marshes of the Texas Coastal Zone to the arid plains of the Panhandle, and from the rich farmland of Central Texas to the sparsely vegetated sand plain of the south T
The Paluxy Formation is a stratigraphic unit which is composed of sandstone and shale and extends across the northern part of the East Texas embayment.
The Texas Coastal Zone is marked by diversity in geography, resources, climate, and industry.
The State of Texas has about 367 miles of open Gulf shoreline, most of it typified by rather broad, sandy beaches and a comparatively mild climate that permits almost year-round use of this recreational resource. All but about 87 miles of the Gulf beach is accessible to the general public.
Surface mining, with its accompanying dust, noise, truck traffic, and land disruption, generally conflicts with most urban land uses. Urban development, however, is dependent upon the availability of nearby mineral resources for the construction of roads and buildings.