Texas coast: Past, present & Contact us with inquiries:

future
About 20,000 years ago, the Texas coast was
up to 130 km seaward of where it is now. This
is because glaciers were much bigger, trapping
water on land. Since then, glaciers started to
melt as climate naturally warmed, causing the
Dr. Lauren Simkins
Glacial geologist
Dr. Travis Swanson
Sedimentologist
The Texas coast
coast to migrate inland. Postdoctoral Fellow Postdoctoral Fellow and its response to
Rice University Rice University
lsimkins@rice.edu travis.swanson@rice.edu sea-level change
Coast 20,000 Source: Anderson et al.,
years ago 2016, Earth-Science
Reviews

Coast today Tian Dong Lindsay Prothro

River geologist Glacial geologist
PhD Student PhD Student
Rice University Rice University
tian.dong@rice.edu lp15@rice.edu
Coast after 1 m of
sea-level rise Additional resources on sea
Source: NOAA Offfice of
Coastal Management level are available from:
Sea Level Rise Viewer
NASA Sea Level Change
Today, the Texas coast is home to the largest https://sealevel.nasa.gov/
chain of barrier islands, which protects many NOAA Office of Coastal Management
people from the effects of sea-level rise. https://coast.noaa.gov/

The fate of the Texas coast will depend on how Electronic version of the pamphlet and
fast sea level rises, the perseverance of barrier sea-level demonstration details RICE UNIVERSITY
R

Shell Center for

and coastal sediments, and coastal management. available at laurensimkins.weebly.com Sustainability

What is sea level? Sea level appears to rise when the land sinks How does the coast change
The height of the ocean surface, commonly because of the compaction of sediments that when sea level rises?
measured at a position along the coast. have a lot of water or empty pore spaces. The pace of sea-level rise matters! Today, global
Time 1 Time 2 mean sea level is rising 3.4 mm per year, mostly
What causes sea level to New sediment from glaciers melting and ocean heating.
change? Coastal plants deposited
1.2 Geological sea level data
Sea level changes every day because of tides, Squishy Tide gauge observations
1.0
waves, and other less frequent events like sediment, like
peat
Ocean
sediment
Satellite observations
storms and hurricanes. 0.8 Future projections
Time 3 Time 4

Sea level (m)

Sun Low Tides Sediments Sea level appears 0.6
Ocean tide compress under to rise when land
weight falls 0.4
High High
tide
Moon tide 0.2
Low Earth
Gravity pulls at Earth tide
0
Waves Direction
Beach Measured sea level from a tide gauge, like the -0.2
Source: IPCC AR5
of waves
record below, is a combination of all of these 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100
Year (CE)
Fair weather
factors and more.
Motion
of water wave base The elevation and shape of the coast influences
Galveston, Texas
Sea level (cm)

740 how sensitive it is to sea-level rise.

Sea level also changes when glaciers grow and 700 Coast shift
Coast shift
shrink. The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets 660 Source: PSMSL New sea level
1930 1950 1970 1990 2010 Old sea level
are the largest reserviors of water trapped on 1910
Coast 1 Coast 2
Year (CE)
land and can
melt into the The wiggles are from daily, monthly, and Land can grow if 2016
Freeport, TX
ocean if climate seasonal changes in sea level, whereas the sediments are available
is warm enough, longer trend shows rising sea level since at and is removed if
causing sea level least the early 20th century. This sea-level trend sediments are carried
is similar to many records worldwide. away by the ocean. 1986 coast
to rise.
Source: Google Earth