Changes in shoreline position along the southeastern Texas Gulf coast between 1974 and 1996 were documented by conducting a kinematic real-time differential global positioning system (DGPS) field survey in 1996 and comparing that shoreline with other shorelines archived in a geographic information system. Results show that (1) beach morphology, shoreline movement, and the regional geologic framework are closely interrelated, (2) Gulf beaches are generally retreating, and (3) the rates of retreat have accelerated locally.

This report applies a basin-scale coalbed methane producibility model in defining fairways and sweet spots in three coal basins in the United States. The Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, has developed a basin-scale coalbed methane producibility and exploration model based on a decade of Gas Research Institute-supported research performed in the San Juan, Sand Wash (Greater Green River), and Piceance Basins and on reconnaissance studies of several other producing and prospective coal basins in the United States.