Texas Almanac, 1980-1981 Page: 16
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-x. ~ "saSand dunes, whipped into unpredictable forms by powerful winds from the sea, stand as lonely sentries against the
eternal waves of the Gulf of Mexico. Photo by Charles Finsley, Dallas Museum of Natural History.
The Texas Coast: Some Natural Observations
The following article was written especially for this edition of the Texas Almanac by staff members of the
Dallas Museum of Natural History. They include: Charles E. Finsley, Curator of Earth Science and Botany; Richard
Fullington, Curator of Invertebrates; Steve R. Runnels, Curator of Ornithology; Walter R. Davis II, Curator of Exhibits;
William Wilson, Curator of Mammalogy, Wayne Seifert, Curator of Herpetology.Seventy million years ago, the shoreline of the
Gulf of Mexico was in the vicinity of Dallas. Over a
hundred million years ago, dinosaurs walked the Gulf
shores near Glen Rose, Texas. Their footprints on those
ancient shores are now more than 250 miles from the
sea. Different from the rocky California coast, which
is sinking slowly into the ocean, the Texas coast is ex-
panding into the Gulf by sandy beaches and offshore
bars. As a result, ours is generally a low coastline,
essentially a one-time bottom of the Gulf.
Even though the Texas coast lacks dramatic
changes in elevation, its great curving length carries
it through several important changes in climate and
rainfall. These provide well-defined geographic areas,
each characterized by particular plant and animal
species. The eastern portion of the coastline, particu-
larly east of Galveston and specifically in the vicinity
of the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, is a westward
extension of the great coastal salt marshes common in
other Gulf coastal states to the east of Texas. The rain-
fall in the coastal marsh area is very abundant and the
area produces hardy, salt-tolerant, marsh grass vege-
tation. Winters, in this northeasterly area of the Texas
16Coast, can occasionally be severe enough to threaten
the lives of unsheltered ranch animals.
The southern portion of the Texas coastline, near
Kingsville and Brownsville, is a very arid environment.
This gives rise to a sparse growth of drought-resistant
prairie grasses, studded with thickets of mesquite
shrubs. Elevations inland rise more abruptly than on
the eastern portion of the coast and are less favorable
to marsh formation. Much of the southern Texas coast
is a semi-desert environment. The Laguna Atascosa
National Wildlife Refuge near Harlingen is a good sam-
ple of this southern area of the Texas coast.
The central portion of the Texas coast, sometimes
called "The Coastal Bend," is a blending of these east-
ern and southern extremes. It is the area generally
around Corpus Christi. The Welder Wildlife Refuge at
Sinton and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near
Rockport are excellent examples of this mid-coastal
environment.
The Texas coast is world-renowned for its lengthy
offshore barrier islands. These form a chain of off-
shore bars along virtually the entire coast. Shallow
bays and lagoons separate the barrier islands from the~a':*' - -i~.: X
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Texas Almanac, 1980-1981, book, 1979; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113815/m1/18/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.