Project Team: Jeffrey G. Paine and Tiffany L. Caudle
Texas coastal shorelines include bay, lagoon, and Gulf of Mexico frontage along geomorphic features such as unconsolidated sandy barrier islands and peninsulas, semiconsolidated muddy marshes and tidal flats, consolidated clayey and sandy bluffs, and sandy and shelly beaches and spits. Common coastal processes that include wind-driven waves, storm surge and storm waves, and relative sea-level rise contribute to the dynamic nature of these coastal boundaries, leading to shoreline retreat or advance through removal or addition of sediment or by submergence and emergence. It is important to monitor the movement of these coastal boundaries, determine coastal land loss and gain, and characterize shoreline movement and its potential impact on the varied activities, uses, and functions of coastal land, vegetation, and habitat.
Researchers at the Bureau updated rates of shoreline movement, characterized shoreline types, and assessed vulnerability to sea-level change along bay shorelines in two regions of the Texas coast: the Galveston Bay system including Galveston, Trinity, East, and West Bays on the upper Texas Gulf coast and the Copano, San Antonio, and Matagorda Bay systems on the Central Texas Coast.
View long-term and more recent shoreline change, shoreline types, and erosion susceptibility in the Galveston Bay system on the upper Texas coast or the Copano, Aranasas, and Matagorda Bay systems on the central Texas coast using the interactive, online viewer.
Results of these projects are discussed in comprehensive reports cited as:
Caudle, T. L. and Paine, J. G., 2024, Historical Shoreline Movement in Galveston, Trinity, East and West Bays on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast: Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, Final Report prepared for General Land Office under contract no. 23-020-016-D610, 82 p.
Paine, J. G., Caudle, T., and Andrews, J. R., 2016, Shoreline movement in the Copano, San Antonio, and Matagorda Bay systems, central Texas coast, 1930s to 2010s: Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, Final Report prepared for General Land Office under contract no. 13-258-000-7485, 72 p.
