A comprehensive review of Texas earthquakes from 1847 to 1986 has revealed 106 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater; of these, 24 are earthquakes for which reports of damage are available, and 1 was responsible for a human fatality.

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).

Reservoirs in the Permian Basin of Texas are estimated to have contained a total of 105.7 billion barrels (Bbbl) of oil at discovery. As of January 1985, these reservoirs had produced a cumulative volume of 25.3 Bbbl of oil, and proved reserves were calculated at 5.9 Bbbl.

Pervasively dolomitized, anhydritic carbonates of the upper San Andres Formation in the Emma field of West Texas constitute an upward-shallowing sequence of lithofacies representing four major depositional environments.

Natural gas in the United States consists of proved reserves in known reservoirs, of inferred reserves and undeveloped resources within these reservoirs, and of undiscovered resources.

The Palo Duro Basin of the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico contains bedded Permian salts of sufficient thickness and depth for the basin to be considered as a potential site for long-term storage and isolation of high-level nuclear waste.

The interaction of geomorphic and ground-water processes has produced the Caprock Escarpmentthat bounds the eastern margin of the Southern High Plains in the Texas Panhandle.