Someregions in Texas are more associated with theAmerican Southeast (primarily East Texas, Central Texas, and North Texas). The Panhandle is part of theGreat Plains and is considered by many to have more in common with parts of theMidwest than either the South or Southwest. Geographically and culturally,El Paso is closer to New Mexico or Arizona than it is to Austin or to East Texas. The size of Texas prohibits easy categorization of the entire state wholly in any recognized region of the United States, and evencultural diversity among regions of the state makes it difficult to treat Texas as a region in its own right.
Texas covers a total area of 268,581 square miles (695,622 km2). The longest straight-line distance is from the northwest corner of the panhandle to theRio Grande river just belowBrownsville, 801 miles (1,289 km).[1] The greatest east–west distance is 773 miles (1,244 km) from the extreme eastward bend in theSabine River inNewton County to the extreme western bulge of theRio Grande just aboveEl Paso.[5] The largest continental state is so expansive that El Paso, in the western corner of the state, is closer toSan Diego, California, than to theHouston/Beaumont area, near the Louisiana state line; whileOrange, on the border with Louisiana, is closer toJacksonville, Florida, than it is to El Paso.Texarkana, in the northeastern corner of the state, is about the same distance fromChicago, Illinois, as it is from El Paso, andDalhart, in the northwestern corner of the state, is closer to thestate capitals ofKansas,Nebraska,Colorado,New Mexico,Oklahoma andWyoming than it is toAustin, its own state capital.[6]
The geographic center of Texas is about 15 miles (24 km) northeast ofBrady in northernMcCulloch County.Guadalupe Peak, at 8,749 feet (2,666.7 m) abovesea level, is the highest point in Texas, the lowest being sea level where Texas meets theGulf of Mexico.[7] Texas has five state forests and 120state parks totalling over 605,000 acres (2,450 km2).[8] There are 3,700 named streams and 15 major river systems flowing through 191,000 miles (307,000 km) of Texas, supporting over 212reservoirs.[9]
With 10climatic regions, 14soil regions, and 11 distinctecological regions, regional classification becomes problematic with differences in soils, topography, geology, rainfall, and plant and animal communities.[10]
Much of the 367-mile (591 km) Gulf coastline of Texas is paralleled by theTexas barrier islands, many of which enclose aseries of estuaries where the state's rivers mix with water from the Gulf of Mexico. These water bodies include some of the largest and most ecologically productive coastal estuaries in the United States and contribute significantly to the ecological and economic resources of Texas.[11]
Texas'sblackland prairies were some of the first areas farmed in Texas. Highly expansiveclays with characteristic dark coloration, called the Houston Black series, occur on about 1.5 million acres (6,000 km2) extending from north of Dallas south to San Antonio. The Professional Soil Scientists Association of Texas has recommended to the State Legislature that theHouston Black series be designated the State soil. The series was established in 1902.[15] National Parks in this area are theLyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and theSan Antonio Missions National Historical Park.[13]
TheTrans-Pecos Natural Region has less than 12 inches (300 mm) annual rainfall. The most complex Natural Region, it includes Sand Hills, theStockton Plateau, desert valleys, wooded mountain slopes and desert grasslands. TheBasin and Range Province is in West Texas, west of thePecos River, beginning with theDavis Mountains on the east and theRio Grande to its west and south. The Trans-Pecos region is the only part of Texas regarded as mountainous and includes seven named peaks in elevation greater than 8,000 feet (2,400 m). This region includes sand hills, desert valleys, wooded mountain slopes and desert grasslands.[12]
Continental,Mountain, andModified Marine are the three majorclimatic types of Texas, with no distinguishable boundaries. Modified Marine, or subtropical, dominates the majority of the state.[17] Texas has an annualprecipitation range from 60.57 inches (1,538 mm) inJasper County, East Texas, to 9.43 inches (240 mm) inEl Paso. The record high of 120 °F (49 °C) was reached atSeymour on 12 August 1936, andMonahans on 28 June 1994. The low also ties at −23 °F (−31 °C) inTulia on 12 February 1899, andSeminole on 8 February 1933.[18]
With a large supply ofnatural resources, Texas is a majoragricultural andindustrial state, producing oil, cattle, sheep, and cotton. The state also produces poultry, eggs, dairy products, greenhouse and nursery products, wheat, hay, rice, sugar cane, and peanuts, and a range of fruits and vegetables.[19]
Cement is produced in Bexar, Comal, Dallas, Ector, Ellis, El Paso, Harris, Hays, McLennan, Nolan, Nueces, Potter, and Tarrant counties. Historically, Texas' Portland cement output accounts for about 10% of the annual United States production.[citation needed]
With an abundance of various types ofclays, Texas is one of the leading producers of clays.
Bituminous coal occurs primarily in Coleman, Eastland, Erath, Jack, McCulloch, Montague, Palo Pinto, Parker, Throckmorton, Wise, and Young counties of Texas.Lignite, or brown coal, occurs in deposits in the Texas Coastal Plain.
Fluorspar orfluorite is an important industrial mineral used in the manufacture ofsteel, aluminum,glass, andfluorocarbons. It occurs at several localities in the Trans-Pecos and Llano regions of Texas.
Deposits ofgraphite occur in the Llano region and was previously produced in Burnet County.
Batguano occurs in numerous caverns in the Edwards Plateau and in the Trans-Pecos region and to a more limited extent in Central Texas.
Gypsum is extensively developed in Texas where the main occurrences are in thePermian Basin, the CretaceousEdwards Formation in Gillespie and Menard counties, and theGulf Coast salt domes of Harris County and previously Brooks County.
Texas is the leading producer ofhelium solely from the Cliffside gas field near Amarillo.
Deposits ofiron ore are present in northeastern Texas as well as several in Central Texas.
Elements of theLanthanide series are commonly termed rare-earth elements. Several of the rare earths have anomalous concentrations in therhyolitic and related igneous rocks in the Trans-Pecos area of Texas. A deposit containing several rare-earth minerals was exposed at Barringer Hill in Llano County before it was covered by the waters of Lake Buchanan.
Limestones, abundant in many parts of Texas, are used in the manufacture of lime. Plants for the production of lime are operating in Bexar, Bosque, Burnet, Comal, Deaf Smith, Hill, Johnson, Nueces, and Travis counties.
Salts occurs in large quantities in salt domes in the Texas Coastal Plain and with other evaporites in the Permian Basin of West Texas, as well as nearGrand Saline, Texas.
Sands used for industrial purposes commonly have been found in the Texas Coastal Plains, East Texas, north central Texas, and Central Texas; and sand mines have opened in the Shinnery (dunes) ecosystem of northern West Texas and the eastern part of the West Wingtip.
The discovery ofsilver in Texas has been credited by some to Franciscans who discovered and operated mines near El Paso about 1680. Documented silver production started in the late 1880s at the Presidio Mine, inPresidio County. Texas produced 32,663,405 troy ounces of silver between 1885 and 1955.
Sulfur occurs in the caprocks of salt domes in the Gulf Coastal Plain, in Permian-age bedded deposits in Trans-Pecos Texas.
In the past,uranium was produced from surface mines in Atascosa, Gonzales, Karnes, and Live Oak counties. All uranium mines are closed and Texas is no longer a producer.[20]
TheBarnett Shale, located in the Fort Worth basin, has gained attention in recent years as a source of natural gas. Controversy regarding drilling and exploration rights is an issue.
There are several different methods used to describe thegeographic andgeological differences within the state, and there are often subdivisions within a region which more accurately describe both the terrain and the culture.[21] Because there is no single standard for subdividing the regions of Texas, many accepted areas either overlap or seem to contradict others. All are included for completeness.
Coastal Bend (Corpus Christi) – Nueces, Victoria, San Patricio, Jim Wells, Bee, Kleberg, Aransas, Lavaca, DeWitt, Gonzales, Calhoun, Jackson, Live Oak, Duval, Goliad, Brooks, Refugio, McMullen, Kenedy
South Texas Border (Laredo,Brownsville andMcAllen) – Hidalgo, Cameron, Webb, Starr, Maverick, Val Verde, Uvalde, Willacy, Zapata, Zavala, Dimmit, La Salle, Jim Hogg, Kinney, Real, Edwards
Upper Rio Grande (El Paso) – El Paso, Brewster, Presidio, Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis
ThisMECE (mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive) partition of the 254 counties into 12 economic regions is used by theTexas comptroller for various analysis and reporting purposes.[22]
Coastal Bend, which follows a curved stretch in the center ofTexas's Gulf Coast. The Coastal Bend region overlaps with the Alamo region,South Texas, and the Texas Comptroller's Gulf Coast region.
Gulf Coast, also known as Texas Gulf Coast or Upper Gulf Coast, which can refer to either an economic region defined by the Texas Comptroller or a geographical region encompassing all of Texas's coastline on theGulf of Mexico, or only a region roughly corresponding withGreater Houston.
Texas Panhandle, known to the Texas Comptroller as the High Plains.[28] The region is sometimes defined as only the 26 northernmost counties that are onlatitude withOklahoma.
