CHAPTER TWO 



Study Area 



BACKGROUND 



The Nueces Estuary 



"If there are seventy-five square miles on this 

 earth that disgrace it, those seventy-five square 

 miles may be found here, Nueces Bay being 

 one big slimy slough, only fit for the habitation 

 of alligators and mud-snakes" 



♦ Dr.A.C. Peirce(1894) 



There is no universally accepted definition of an 

 estuary, though these systems are generally considered 

 to share the following properties: a 1) coastal water 

 body, that is 2) semi-enclosed, with 3) free connection 

 to the open sea, with both 4) an influx of seawater, and 

 5) an influx of freshwater, and which is 6) of small to 

 intermediate scale {e.g., Pritchard 1967; Ward and 

 Montague 1996). The property of scale differentiates 

 an estuary from larger systems, such as the 

 Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Gulf of 

 Mexico, which satisfy the other properties but clearly 

 are not estuaries. These properties do not necessarily 

 occur all of the time, as in many estuaries, the relative 

 influence of freshwater and seawater influxes varies 

 with season. In essence, an estuary is a transitional 

 system between a purely freshwater and a purely 

 marine system. It is, therefore, influenced by processes 

 that are terrestrial and marine, but there are also 

 hydrographic features unique to the estuarine 

 environment and a consequence of its transitional 

 character. 



The boundaries of the Nueces Estuary include four bay 

 systems (Texas Department of Water Resources 1982): 

 one primary bay (Corpus Christi), one secondary bay, 

 (Nueces), and two tertiary bays (Oso and Redfish) 

 (Figure 2-1). In terms of geomorphic classification, the 

 estuary is considered a coastal plain estuary (Pritchard 

 1967), being composed of a drowned river valley lying 

 perpendicular to the coastline. However, the Nueces 

 Estuary also shares characteristics of lagoons with 

 large, bar-built bays parallel to the coastline, like 



Chapter Two ♦ 2-1 



