These cross sections numerically correspond to previously published onshore cross sections (CS0002--Dodge and Posey, 1981) and extend those sections across the continental shelf into the Miocene, a recent target of renewed petroleum exploration.

The State-owned submerged lands of Texas encompass almost 6,000 mi2 (15,540 km2). They lie below waters of the bay-estuary-lagoon system and the Gulf of Mexico and extend 10.3 mi (16.6 km) seaward from the Gulf shoreline (fig. 1).

The Oakville Sandstone is a major aquifer and a major host of uranium deposits in the Texas Coastal Plain.

The Oakville Formation consists of sediments deposited by several major fluvial systems that traversed the Texas Coastal Plain during the Miocene Epoch.

The Miocene Oakville Sandstone is a major aquifer and uranium host beneath the Texas Coastal Plain. In 1976, approximately 6,000 acre-ft of ground water were withdrawn from the Oakville for municipal use.

Upper Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene deposits in the subsurface of the central Coastal Plain of Texas were subdivided into six operational units comprising the surface-defined Fleming, Goliad, Willis, Lissie, and Beaumont Formations.

The publication comprises 24 structural dip cross sections, spaced 15 to 20 mi apart along the Texas coast, and 4 structural strike cross sections. Dip sections extend from near the Wilcox outcrop to the coastline.

For the past decade, geologists at the Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, have prepared various maps of the Texas Coastal Zone.

Secondary leached porosity is common to dominant in near surface to deep subsurface lower Tertiary sandstone reservoirs along the Texas Gulf Coast. This secondary porosity is in the form of leached feldspar grains, volcanic rock fragments, carbonate cements, and carbonate-replaced grains.

Potential geopressured geothermal reservoirs in the Vicksburg Formation are limited to Hidalgo County along the Lower Texas Gulf Coast.