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During the first quarter of 2004, work dealt with new mapping and completion of open-file geologic maps within the
Hill Country Trinity aquifer near Kerrville and Bandera, Central Texas, and of the Christmas Point quadrangle-San Luis
Pass area, Texas Gulf of Mexico coast. Other work during 2004 focused on a digital compilation mapping project for the
Del Rio, Texas, area in South-Central Texas. Maps of the Hill Country Trinity aquifer area will be used to make
decisions regarding aquifer management and modeling, land use, and environmental protection for Central Texas, a region
where population growth is causing greater demands for use of water and Earth resources. The area straddles the east
edge of the Edwards Plateau, the boundary between the Edwards-Trinity aquifer of the plateau and the Hill Country
Trinity aquifer. The map of the Christmas Point quadrangle includes Holocene and Pleistocene environmental geologic
units associated with coastal depositional environments within this important tidal-inlet area of the Texas Gulf Coast.
It will support crucial activities, such as evaluating historic changes of coastal depositional environments,
addressing erosion issues, educating the public, and establishing a framework for conducting studies and presenting
data for management of other Texas inlets. The digital compilation map project encompasses a Rio Grande Border area
that includes Del Rio, Amistad National Recreation Area, and major transportation routes from Mexico, as well as parts
of two aquifers, the Edwards limestone aquifer and the alluvial Uvalde aquifer. The geologic map of the Del Rio area is
intended to be used by professionals and laypersons as a source of general geologic information that relates to land and
resource use and management. Mapping for these projects is supported by the STATEMAP program, part of the National
Cooperative Geologic Mapping program administered by the U.S. Geological Survey for the production of geologic maps to
augment the Texas and national geologic database, and includes collaboration with the Texas Water Development Board and
the Texas General Land Office.
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