Between 1951 and 1996, groundwater pumpage from the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer, one of Texas' major aquifer systems, increased in the area between the Colorado and Brazos Rivers from approximately 10,600 to 37,900 acre-ft/yr, primarily as a result of mining needs.

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 In 1976, approximately 6,000 acre-ft of ground water were withdrawn from the Oakville for municipal use.

Environmental geologic maps of the Texas lignite belt were prepared in response to renewed production of lignite in Texas and enactment of Federal and State laws governing coal and lignite surface mining.

The Oakville Sandstone (Miocene) of the Texas Coastal Plain comprises a major sand-rich fluvial system composed of deposits of several major and minor rivers that originated within Texas and surrounding states.

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 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.

Papers in this volume were presented at the Gulf Coast Lignite Conference held in Austin, Texas, June 1976.
Papers were edited, in some cases extensively, and subjectively grouped by discipline, paralleling that of their presentation at the Conference.

The Catahoula Formation of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain consists of two depositional systems--the Gueydan bedload fluvial system of the Rio Grande embayment and the Chita-Corrigan mixed load fluvial system of the Houston embayment.