The land surface in the Texas Coastal Zone is interlaced with active and potentially active surface faults. They are subtle features which are difficult to identify until they have caused damage to manmade structures. To date (1978), significant damage has resulted.

Tertiary strata of the Texas Gulf Coast comprise a number of terrigenous depositional wedges, some of which thicken abruptly at their downdip ends as a result of contemporaneous movement of growth faults and underlying salt.

Barrier islands along the Texas Coastal Zone are part of a complex and dynamic system represented by many distinct yet interrelated environments affected by a variety of resources, natural processes, climatic conditions, and human activities.

The Washita Group in North-Central Texas and southeastern Oklahoma consists of up to 114 m of intercalated shale, limestone, and sandstone that accumulated in the shallow, epicontinental sea of the East Texas Basin.

Land and water resources have been analyzed in the Corpus Christi area--Aransas, Nueces, Refugio, and San Patricio Counties along the central Texas coast. The city and port of Corpus Christi compose the largest metropolitan center in the area.