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    Draft 2017 Texas Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; and Oysters
    (2017-05) Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Texas Trustee Implementation Group (Texas TIG)
    This Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Texas Trustee Implementation Group Draft 2017 Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; and Oysters (Draft RP/EA) was prepared by the Texas Trustee Implementation Group (TIG) to initiate planning and restoration of lost natural resources in Texas as a result of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. The Texas TIG is responsible for restoring the natural resources and services within the Texas Restoration Area that were injured by the April 20, 2010, DWH oil spill and associated spill response efforts (collectively, the Incident). The Texas TIG has prepared this Draft RP/EA to inform the public about its DWH natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) restoration planning efforts and to seek public comment on the preferred restoration alternatives proposed in this document. The purpose of restoration, as discussed in this document and detailed more fully in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Final Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final PDARP/PEIS), is to make the environment and the public whole for injuries resulting from the Incident by implementing restoration actions that return injured natural resources and services to baseline conditions and compensate for interim losses in accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and associated NRDA regulations. The Final PDARP/PEIS and Record of Decision (ROD) can be found at http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-planning/gulfplan/.
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    Water Resources Development in Texas 1991
    (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Southwestern Division, 1991) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is an engineer consultant agency to Congress. Most Corps' water resources projects are developed under specific congressional authorization. When local interests think a need exists for construction or improvement of a water resources project, they petition their representatives in Congress. The senator or congressman then requests that the appropriate congressional committee direct the Corps of Engineers to make a survey and determine if a viable solution exists. Authority for the survey study is provided either in the form of a resolution adopted by the appropriate Senate or House committee or by a congressional act. After approval, congressional appropriations are required to provide funding for the Corps to initiate the survey study.
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    Galveston Bay Information Center [website] [zip archive]
    (Texas A&M University at Galveston. Jack K. Williams Library, 1996) Galveston Bay Information Center, /
    The Galveston Bay Information Center originally published its website ca. 1996. This zip file contains all pages and supplementary files, downloaded on 2016-06-03 for archival purposes. PDF copies of the webpages are available at http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/29037. Plain HTML copies (linked text only; no images or styles) are available at http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/29038.
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    Galveston Bay Information Center [website] [plain HTML]
    (Texas A&M University at Galveston. Jack K. Williams Library, 1996) Galveston Bay Information Center, /
    The Galveston Bay Information Center originally published its website ca. 1996. This 2016-06-03 snapshot of the GBIC website is presented in plain HTML (no images or styles) for archival purposes. PDF copies of the webpages are available at http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/29037. A zip archive of the whole website is available at http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/29039.
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    Galveston Bay Information Center [website] [PDF]
    (Texas A&M University at Galveston. Jack K. Williams Library, 1996) Galveston Bay Information Center, /
    The Galveston Bay Information Center originally published its website ca. 1996. This 2016-06-03 snapshot of the GBIC website is presented for archival purposes. Constituent pages are reproduced individually in PDF format. Plain HTML copies (linked text only; no images or styles) are available at http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/29038. A zip archive of the whole website is available at http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/29039.
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    Armand Bayou Watershed Partnership Meeting
    (Armand Bayou Watershed Partnership, 2012-10) --
    Meeting announcement for Partnership on Tuesday, November 13, 2012. Speakers: Commissioner Jack Morman, Tim Tietjens, Ron Stein, Roger Miranda, Aubin Phillips.
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    Development of hurricane flood protection for Texas City, Texas
    (U.S. Army Engineer District, Galveston, Corps of Engineers, 1965) Murphy, Wayne M.; Geelan, Charles William
    The purpose of this paper is to present the hydraulic problems relating to the computation of hurricane surge, hurricane waves, runup of the waves for providing hurricane flood protection at Texas City, Texas, as well as the effects of rainfall upon the protected area during periods of normal and high tides. The problems of providing protection are discussed, and information is presented on structures that were designed for the hurricane protection project.
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    Texas Water
    (2012-02-06) Woolsey, Barbara
    This is a series of activities designed to introduce students to Texas water facts and water issues.
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    Contaminant levels in sediment and biota in the Gulf of Mexico estuaries
    (Gulf of Mexico Program, Stennis, Mississippi, 1993) Summers, J.K.; Heard, R.; Gaston, G.
    In 1991 the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) initiated a long-term monitoring program to assess the ecological status and long-term trends of the estuaries of the Louisianian Province. The Louisianian Province consists of the biogeographic region from Anclote Anchorage, Florida, around the Gulf Coast to, and including, the Rio Grande, Texas. The area evaluated includes all tidally-influenced water bodies, or estuaries, greater than 2 square kilometers in surface area.
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    Sediment quality and toxic inputs to the Gulf of Mexico
    (Gulf of Mexico Program, Stennis, Mississippi, 1993) Fox, Catherine A.
    States bordering the Gulf of Mexico discharge hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxic pollutants into the Gulf waters each year. Most notable are Texas and Louisiana, with their massive petrochemical complexes that generate more toxic waste in total volume and on a per capita basis than any other state in the nation. Recognizing the importance of assessing the amounts, kinds, and potential impacts of toxic releases into Gulf estuaries, the Toxics and Pesticides Subcommittee of the Gulf of Mexico Program developed two important databases -- the Toxics Release Inventory and the Contaminated Sediments Inventory. This paper provides an overview of the information contained in these databases and discusses briefly the results of preliminary evaluations designed to identify both chemicals and estuaries of concern of the Gulf coast.
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    Shoreline erosion education: a hands on approach
    (Gulf of Mexico Program, Stennis, Mississippi, 1993) Seidensticker, Eddie; Nailon, Robert W.
    The authors are concerned with involving both the public and educators in conservation activities. The authors train volunteers in wetland creation methods using smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora.
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    Dunes day in Brazoria County
    (Gulf of Mexico Program, Stennis, Mississippi, 1993) Moss, Charles G.
    Description of a project to build and stabilize the sand dunes along Brazoria County, Texas' coastline
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    Cooperative habitat creation efforts in Galveston Bay, Texas
    (Stennis MS: Gulf of Mexico Program Office, 1993) Shead, Linda R.
    For three years the Galveston Bay Foundation has coordinated a cooperative effort to plant smooth cordgrass marsh for habitat creation and shoreline erosion protection.
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    Proceedings of the Ninth Biennial State of the Bay Symposium; what is needed to sustain our estuary?
    (Galveston Bay Estuary Program, 2009-01-12)
    The Galveston Bay Estuary Program, a non-regulatory program administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and its partners work together to implement tThe Galveston Bay Plan, a 20-year, science-based plant designed to protect and restore the bay. The Estuary Program hosts the biennial symposium to provide an opportunity for stakeholders to interact and share environmental policy and management successes, report the latest monitoring and research findings, and to illuminate the challenges facing Galveston Bay. The symposium is convened to advance knowledge and understanding of Galveston Bay and associated habitats, their importance and value to coastal lving, and the role citizens, business and industry, and resource managers play in creating an economically and environmentally sustainable region.
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    Differential Holocene sea level changes over the globe; evidence for glacial eustasy, geoidal eustasy, and crustal movements
    (1984-06) Morner, Nils-Axel
    The old theory of eustasy implied that the eustatic ocean level was displaced up and down simultaneously and equally over the globe. Due to the geoid deformation, however, two eustatic levels are never quite parallel. The present paper deals with the complexity of variables and the Holocene global observational records.
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    Marine drilling exploration; technical and environmental criteria for rig selection
    (1984-06) Krupa, Steven L; Watson, Ian
    The appropriate rig for offshore drilling is not necessarily the Glomar Challenger of the Discoverer Seven Seas, but rather the combination of equipment that best fits the budget and requirements of the project under consideration. Four categories of drilling and sampling application are discussed: [1] engineering-geological investigations to assess the foundation conditions for large offshore structures. [2] mineral exploration to determine the economic value of potential mining deposits. [3] geological mapping of the ocean floor and [4] petroleum exploration. Within these four major areas, variables are considered that influence the rationale for selection of a particular rig. Selection criteria include sampling, coring and dynamic testing capability, limitying target drilling depths., operating-basis environmental conditions, necessary support vessels and personnel. The tabulations, flow diagrams and discussion of this hierarchy of options are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to assist the marine scientist in designing a structured decision analysis for selecting the most cost-effective rig for his or her project.
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    Cysts of the Thecate Dinoflagellate Fragilidium, Balech ex Loeblich
    (1984-06) Norris, Dean R; Owen, Kevin C
    Motile, thecate dinoflagellates of the genus Fragilidium excysted under laboratory conditions from two types of morphologically distinct hypnocysts, isolated from sediments of the Indian River lagoon, Brevard County, Florida. Observations of individual motile orgnisms showed that ecdysal cysts were formed from the thecate [armored] stage and pellicle cysts were formed from the gymnodinoid [prearmored] stage. The duration of ecdysal encystment was typically between eight and nine hours when a thecate individual encysted, and between seven and eight hours when a cyst was formed from the "gymnodinoid" stage. All dinflagellates observed excysting from ecdysal cysts were in the prearmored "gymnodinoid" stage with distinct longitudinal and transverse flagella and fully developed cingular and suical furrows. The results of this investigation provide field evidence for the presence of hypnocysts, ecdysal, and pellicle cysts in the life cycle of Fragilidium. The formation of ecdysal and pellicle cysts may provide several benefits for life in an estuarine system where conditions can change significatnly in a relatively short period of time. A theca/cyst cycle is suggested for the genus Fragilidium. Similar theca/cyst cycles can be expected to occur in other dinoflagellates.
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    Shelfwater response to the cold winters of 1977 and 1978 in the South Atlantic Bight (SAB)
    (1984-06) Pashuk, Oleg; Mathews, Thomas D
    Hydrographic data from winter and summer cruises during the 1976 and 1979 period were used to illustrate atypical oceanographic conditions in the SAB, especially during the cold winters of 1977 and 1978. During this period meteorological conditions resulted in unusually low water temperatures in nearshore regimes [<6 degrees C in South Carolina coastal waters in January 1977]. During other winter cruises surface waters were cooler off Georgia than off South Carolina. Zones of upwelling were observed regularly near Cape Canaveral and off Charleston, while Gulf Stream instrusions were detected at many outer shelf locations. Salinities indicative of runoff occurred near the coast, from South Carolina to Florida during the winter cruises. High salinities [>36 o/oo] were also measured during the winter cruises in some coastal areas, indicating Gulf Stream intrusions. Suface salinities >35 o/oo near river mouths were observed during the summers of 1977 and 1978, correlating well with drought conditions in the coastal states. Surface circulation, as derived from density distributions, was atypical throughout much of the period of this study. The cyclonic eddy normally in Long Bay [south of Cape Fear] was not well-defined or present during the summer cruises, but was qutie distinct during winter 1977 in conjunctin with three other cyclonic eddies at midshelf locations. In addition, a rather continuous coastal countercurrnt was present during winter 1977 from Long Bay to Cape Canaveral. The summer 1976 circulation, however, did not have a long Bay eddy as usual or it was displaced offshore.
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    Geomorphic recovery of the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, after a major hurricane
    (1984-06) Kahn, Jacob H
    The processes of geomorphic change in the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, were monitored for two years after the passage of Hurricane Frederic in September 1979. Rates of beach accretion and hurricane-channel closure on these transgressive, microtidal barrier islands were affected by subsequent storms, including major frontal passages in the two following winters and three tropical cyclones that passed through the Gulf of Mexico in 1980. Twenty-four months after Frederic, the hurricane's geomorphic modification of the islands remained evident. In September 1981, the Chandeleur barriers were still segmented by 14 hurricane channels and the mean beach width was 60 m. whereas prior to Hurricane Frederic the barrier beach was continuous throughout the study area and the mean beach widths was 170 m. The slow partial recovery of the barriers lends support to the hyposthesis that the Chandeleur Islands are being transformed from a continuous chain of barrier islands into a series of small islets and shoals. The transformation is a consequence of the tfrequent passage of tropical cyclones thorugh the northern Gulf of Mexico, the lack of a sediment supply to the Chandeleur barrier system, and the subsidence of the St. Bernard Delta surface underlying the islands.
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    Improving coastal resource management; a strategy to integrate impacts
    (1984-06) Fischer, David W
    Coastal resource management strategies sometimes fail when they do not integrate development impacts into the existing ad hoc approach to coastal management. This paper outlines a set of strategies coastal developers may take when contfronted by the need for change. Because a development and its coastal impact area constitute a connected system, the promotive strategy sees the development-impact area as interdependent. Such a strategy can turn impacts into an expansion of developer concern by promoting coastal impacts as a new pathway to greater coastal conservation and management opportunities.