The Texas Coastal Zone is marked by diversity in geography, resources, climate, and industry.

The Texas Coastal Plain is ideal for studying physical processes and the late Quaternary sedimentological record.

Approximately 800 sediment samples from stream beds and bay bottoms of water bodies that compose the Matagorda Bay system were collected and analyzed. Shell-sand-mud ratios and total organic carbon content were determined, and 20 trace elements were detected.

The State-owned submerged lands of Texas encompass nearly 6,000 square miles (15,540 km²) and extend from Mexico to Louisiana. The area includes the bays, estuaries, and lagoons, as well as the inner continental shelf 10.3 miles (16.6 km) seaward of the Gulf shoreline (fig. 1).

 In cooperation with several State and Federal agencies, the Bureau of Economic Geology has conducted several projects on the geology, origin, and extent of uranium resources in Texas.

The Upper Triassic Dockum Group of Texas and New Mexico is composed of 200 to 2,000 feet of complexly interrelated terrigenous clastic facies ranging from mudstone to conglomerate.

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.

The Texas Coastal Zone is marked by diversity in geography, resources, climate, and industry.

The Texas Coastal Zone is marked by diversity in geography, resources, climate, and industry.

Historical monitoring along Matagorda Peninsula from Brown Cedar Cut to Pass Cavallo records the nature and magnitude of changes in position of the shoreline and vegetation line and provides insight into the factors affecting those changes.