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

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

Mapping based on Landsat imagery was initiated along the Texas coast for four test sites selected for contrasting vegetation, environmental geology, and levels of economic development.

Comparison of Environmental Geology maps, from the Environmental Geologic Atlas of the Texas Coastal Zone, with aerial photographs taken in February 1975 revealed changes related to economic development of the region and to ongoing natural processes.

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.

Historical monitoring along central Padre Island records the nature and magnitude of changes in position of the shoreline and vegetation line and provides insight into the factors affecting those changes.

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.

Aquifers in the Houston-Galveston area are composed principally of fluvial-deltaic sediments. The Alta Loma Sand is a complexly faulted, high-sand-percent unit that represents a seaward progression of fluvial, delta-plain, and delta-front facies.

Reservoir quality of lower Teritary sandstone reservoirs along the Texas Gulf Coast is controlled by sandstone depositional environment, mineralogical composition, and consolidation history (compaction, cementation, and leaching).