Big Thicket National Preserve: Geologic resources inventory report
Thornberry-Ehrlich TL. 2018. Big Thicket National Preserve: Geologic resources inventory report. Natural Resource Report. NPS/NRSS/GRD/NRR—2018/1779. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This report synthesizes discussions from a scoping meeting held in 2008 and a follow-up conference call in 2016 (see Appendix A). Chapters of this report discuss the geologic setting, distinctive geologic features and processes within Big Thicket National Preserve, highlight geologic issues facing resource managers, describe the geologic history leading to the present-day landscape, and provide information about the previously completed GRI map data. Posters (in pocket) illustrate these data. Considered the biological crossroads of North America, the Big Thicket, with its swampy lowlands, meandering rivers and creeks, and dense, diverse vegetation, has discouraged human habitation for thousands of years. Other than sporadic American Indian use, the Big Thicket was able to remain a million hectares (almost 2.5 million ac) of almost true wilderness until the timber, railroad, and oil and gas booms of the 1800s and early 1900s. Since that time, human use has fragmented the Big Thicket into smaller and smaller parcels in southeastern Texas. In 1974, Big Thicket National Preserve was authorized as one of the two first national preserves in the National Park System—dedicated to “preserving, conserving, protecting, and enhancing the integrity of the natural and ecological systems in the Big Thicket”. Like pearls on a string, the preserve is composed of nine land units connected by six water corridor units, spread over a broad, relatively flat geographical area. This report is supported by GRI-compiled map data of the geology of Big Thicket National Preserve. There are multiple sets of map data that are further described in the “Geologic Map Data” section of this report: Small-scale (1:250,000) geologic mapping of the entire preserve by the Texas Water Development Board. Larger scale (1:24,000) geologic mapping of 10 of the 15 individual units of the preserve by geologists from Lamar University. Small-scale (1:500,000) land resources map data of the entire preserve by the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology. Oil and gas well locations (as of 2009) by the Railroad Commission of Texas. The following geologic features, processes, and resource management issues are discussed in the report: Big Thicket Habitats and Underlying Geology, Fluvial Features and Processes, Wetlands and Lakes, Sand Mounds and Salt Domes, Sedimentary Units and Geologic Exposures, Oil and Gas Development and Production, Mitigation and Restoration of Abandoned Mineral Lands and Other Disturbed Lands, Abandoned mineral lands and disturbed lands, River Meandering, Erosion, and Fluvial Flooding, Coastal Resources, Sea Level Rise, and Climate Change, Slope Movement Hazards and Risks, Paleontological Resource Inventory, Monitoring, and Protection, Seismicity.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Thornberry-Ehrlich, Trista
- Date of Issue
- 2018-10
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- BITH , GRD , GRI , GULN , NRSS
- Keywords
- Abandoned mineral lands and disturbed lands, and Climate Change, and Fluvial Flooding, and Protection, Big Thicket Habitats and Underlying Geology, Big Thicket National Preserve, BITH, Coastal Resources, Erosion, Fluvial Features and Processes, Geologic Features, Geologic History, Geologic Processes, Geologic Resource Management Issues, Geologic Resources Division, Geologic Resources Inventory, GRD, GRI, Map Unit Properties Table, Map Units, Mitigation and Restoration of Abandoned Mineral Lands and Other Disturbed Lands, Monitoring, National Park Service, NPS, Oil and Gas Development and Production, Paleontological Resource Inventory, Resource Management, River Meandering, Sand Mounds and Salt Domes, Sea Level Rise, Sedimentary Units and Geologic Exposures, Seismicity, Slope Movement Hazards and Risks, Texas, Wetlands and Lakes
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Hillslope Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Coastal/Oceanographic Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Stream/River Channel Characteristics , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Seismic Activity , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Paleontology | Paleontology