31 Coastal Plains Of Texas Facts: Geography, Ecology And Much More!

The Gulf Coastal Plains of Texas are well recognized for their diverse, rich flora and fauna along with a large climatic difference.

The physical geographical regions of Texas are four: the Gulf Coastal Plains, the Great Plains, the Interior Lowlands, and the Range Province. Texas is located in the south-central part of America, and the Gulf of Mexico is the lowest point in Texas.

Texas has a variety of vegetation, from pine woods to shrublands and oak trees. The state capital of Texas is Austin, near San Antonio, which is located in the inland areas of Texas.

The plant life and flora of Texas majorly include plants such as cactus, post oak, white brush, cenizo, and guajillo. The Edwards Plateau is widely spread through the north-central plains of Texas, including the South Texas plains and far west Texas.

The Stockton Plateau is also considered part of the Edward Plateau.

Mason and Llano counties are believed to be founded on the Edward Plateau. The north-central plains share their boundaries on the west with the caprock escarpment, on the south with the Edward Plateau, and on the east with the Eastern Cross Timbers.

If you enjoyed reading this article about Gulf Coastal Plains and West Texas, then do read some surprising and interesting fun facts about Lubbock Texas, and geckos in Texas.

The Physical Geography Of Coastal Plains Of Texas

The Gulf Coastal Plains of Texas cover the Post Oak Belt, Black Land Belt, Rio Grande Plain, Piney Woods or Pine Belt, Coastal Prairies (Grand Prairie), and Lower Rio Grande Valley.

The Gulf Coastal Plains of Texas have a wide geographical location, covering an area that starts from the Atlantic Ocean and stretches until the Rio Grande Plains. The Gulf of Mexico is known to border the Gulf Coastal Plains.

The hill area that stretches up to East Texas has Piney Woods. Prairies, shrubland, and post oaks dominate the landscape of west Texas.

Gently rolling into the Interior Lowlands, these are covered with grasslands and major rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. The Rio Grande, which is close to Del Rio, has a subterranean layer that stretches east of Texas.

Some of the national parks that are found in Texas are Padre Island National Seashore, the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site, and Big Thicket National Preserve.

In north-central Texas, in the northwest is Bexar County, while in the northeast are Hays, Comal, and Travis counties which meet with the Colorado River in the north of Austin. The interior boundary line of the coastal plain meets with the eastern edge of the cross timbers.

The coastal plains, which are below the line of fault, and above that, the rolling plains of the Interior Land.

The Texas coastal plain has the lower and upper cretaceous period layers of sediments.

The rivers which flow through the Gulf Coastal Plains are the Brazos River, known best for agriculture, the Red River south to San Antonio (eastern boundary), the Canadian River through the Texas Panhandle, the Pecos River, which ends in the Rio Grande, and the Sabine River, which ends in Lake Tawakoni.

Lake Buchanan is one of the lakes which were formed in the highlands of Texas.

Texas regarded mountain area is the Trans-Pecos region, which has desert valleys, grasslands, sandhills, and mountains with woods. Barrier islands are more close to the Gulf Coast region of Texas. The narrow strip of the El Paso Valley or Upper Rio Grande Valley is also well known for agriculture, with cotton being the major crop.

Climate-Related Factors

The climatic condition of Texas varies from warm to cool as it spreads widely through Northern Hemisphere temperature zones. The Gulf Coastal Plains of Texas have hot summers and a windy climate.

Throughout Texas, basically, three different climatic conditions are found: modified marine, mountain, and continental steppe. The high plains of Texas have a continental steppe in which low rainfall, low humidity, and high temperatures are observed.

This region has mild winters. The climate of the mountain region is a bit cool and precipitation is generally observed in these areas, while the modified region has a subtropical climate.

The eastern coastal plain and the north-central plains of Texas have subtropical and humid climatic conditions with hot summers. From the Rio Grande Valley until the Pecos Valley, there is a semi-arid climatic condition.

High mountain peaks such as Guadalupe are known for their cool climatic conditions. When it comes to the history of climatic conditions and the factors which affect the climate of Texas, natural calamities such as hurricanes and tornadoes are known to affect Texas.

Galveston, Velasco, Corpus Christi, along with border areas, are known to suffer due to natural disasters. In Texas, the Great Plains and the Gulf Coastal Plains are often hit hard by hurricane speeds of 111 mph (178.6 kph). The 1909 hurricane hit hard on Galveston and moved on to Velasco, which is believed to have ruined half of Texas.

Corpus Christi is known to have suffered from a hurricane in 1919, and the hurricane of 1915 was one of the deadliest natural disasters that hit the town of Galveston.

In 1957, Hurricane Audrey is known to have caused the destruction of $700 million in Texas and Louisiana. Floods, thunderstorms, and tornadoes are also known to often hit Texas and its Gulf Coastal Plain regions.

It is believed that Texas is hit by more than 100 tornadoes annually and the path of the tornado is mostly from the southeast region to the gulf coast of south Texas.

The Geology Of Coastal Plains Of Texas

The Texas gulf coast enriched large areas with a diverse landscape, with rivers running through it and merging into the Gulf of Mexico.

Around 40% of Texas is covered by the coastal plains, which have barrier islands like Padre Island, and one of the largest bays on Texas' gulf coast is Galveston Bay. Houston is located near the southeast Texas coast between the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston.

The Great Plains of Texas cover six cities: Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland, San Angelo, Odessa, and Austin.

The major cities in the coastal plains of Texas include Laredo, Corpus Christi, Galveston, Victoria, Brownsville, Dallas, Austin, Pasadena, Houston, and San Antonio. Among them, Corpus Christi is the largest city in the coastal plains of Texas.

The Trans-Pecos region is known to be the driest region in Texas. The northern central plains region has a population of around 25,000,000.

The three mountain ranges in Texas are the Guadalupe Mountains, the Chisos Mountains, and the Davis Mountains. Plains, mountains, plateaus, and hills are four types of landforms that are found in Texas.

The gulf coast of Texas is divided into many provinces on the basis of their physiography. The interior coastal plain has shales and Cenozoic clay, along with uncemented soil or sand.

Pliocene limestones are also found in this region. The Blackland Prairies also called the innermost region of the coastal plain, have marls and chalk. The coastal prairies that are found near the Gulf of Mexico have clays, silts, and Pleistocene deltaic sands that have been seen in the formation of lagoons, delta sediments, and thin coastal-barrier islands.

The West Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas is covered by the Balcones escarpment, which stretches up to Dallas and San Antonio. The fault found in Texas is believed to have been formed over 300 million years ago when the Ouachita Orogeny mountains were separated from the Ouachita mountains.

The walls of the Balcones escarpment are dated back to the Cretaceous limestone, including the caves of the subterranean.

The rocks of the escarpment to the west are more resistant to erosion in comparison to the coastal plains' soft sediments. The high plains of the coastal plain are covered with alluvial soil and are called 'staked plains'.

Did You Know...

Here are some more interesting facts about Texas.

Texas is known to receive much of its income from natural gas, tourism, and petroleum production.

In the coastal plains of Texas, the average temperature during summer is 93 F (34 C) and during winter is 65 F (18 C).

Texas is known to receive an annual rainfall of around 20–58 in (50.8–147 mm) and the rainwater is stored in the reservoirs and marshy areas.

The production of cement is widely done in Hays, El Paso, Bexar, and Tarrant counties.

Red River county is named after the Red River of south Texas.

Windsurfing is done in Corpus Christi, a city near south Texas and the Gulf of Mexico known for its highly windy climate.