D. Hoye Eargle, George Pinkley, and Paul de Vergie led and co-authored the first field trip to the Karnes Uranium District for the South Texas Geological Society in 1958, nearly 50 years ago. Since then, various field trips have been held to this area by different groups.

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 Oligocene-Miocene fluvial uranium host aquifers of the South Texas uranium province were deposited principally as syndepositionally oxidized sands and muds.

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 In 1976, approximately 6,000 acre-ft of ground water were withdrawn from the Oakville for municipal use.

The Catahoula Formation is composed of ancient fluvial sediments that controlled a wide range of water/sediment interactions responsible for uranium mobilization, transportation, and concentration.

The environmentally sensitive trace elements molybdenum, arsenic, and selenium are concentrated with uranium in ore deposits in South Texas. Cattle grazing in some pastures in mining areas have contracted molybdenosis, a cattle disease resulting from an imbalance of molybdenum and copper.

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.

The increasing demand for uranium combined with the improving economics of uranium production have resulted in a significant upsurge in exploration and mining efforts in the South Texas Coastal Plain uranium province. Texas ranks third in U.S. uranium production.