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This region is a dry region. There is actually a desert in this region. This is called the great Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico, and its cold at night, and hot during the day. You can also find the only mountains of Texas in this region. The slopes of these mountains have forests on them.

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The Rio Grande River is a landform in the Big Bend Country. This landform was formed by either a lake, river, or ocean having too much extra water. The excess water flows onto the ground and forms a river after a long period of time.

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- El Paso and Fort Davis are found here.
- This area gets less than 10 inches of rain per year!
- You can find painted rock art in this region. This art was made by the ancient peoples of the Big Bend Country.

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The major aquifer in this region is Hueco-Mesilla Bolson.

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This region has many prairies and grasslands, but as you move towards the Gulf of Mexico, there are more bays, marshes, barrier islands, and estuaries. All in all, this is a more humid region of Texas.

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The Balcones Fault is an important landform in Texas that crosses over from Dallas to Del Rio. This landform is made of many smaller features like smaller faults, horsts, and grabens.

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- Corpus Christi, Galveston, and Houston are in this region.
- There are many rivers here including San Antonio, Nueces, San Jacinto, Trinity, and Brazos (In fact, all major rivers in Texas flow through this region).
- There is an average of 40-60 inches of rainfall per year in this region.

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There are two major aquifers in this region: Gulf Coast, Carrizo-Wilcox.

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https://tpwd.texas.gov/kids/about_texas/regions/

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TPWD kids page describes regions of Texas

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http://texaswateroperators.com/major-aquifers-of-texas/

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Define "aquifer" and list four major aquifers

The TCEQ "A Water" test may ask you to name only four majors aquifers. But there are actually 9 major ones as listed by the Texas Water Development Board. You will not be required to provide information on each of the aquifers as part of your answer, but below is a little bit about each one of them.

The definition of the term "aquifer" according to TEEX's Water technology course is " a porous underground water bearing geologic formation." They also define it as "a geological formation capable of yielding useful groundwater supplies to wells and springs. "

Oxforddictionaries.com defines it as " a body of permeable rock that can contain or transmit groundwater."

Wikipedia describes it as " an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be extracted using a water well."

The Major Aquifers of Texas

Pecos Valley

The Pecos Valley aquifer is a major aquifer in West Texas. About 80% of the water taken from the aquifer is used for irrigation with the rest being used for municipalities, power generation, and industrial use. The water quality is highly variable and typically hard. Previous oil field activities have resulted in high levels of chloride and sulfate in excess of secondary drinking water standards. Also, naturally occurring arsenic and radionuclides exceed secondary drinking water standards.

Seymour

The Seymour aquifer is a major aquifer that extends across north central Texas. About 90% of the water taken from this aquifer is used for irrigation, with the rest being used primarily for municipalities. Salinity in the aquifer ranges from fresh to slight, with pockets of high salinity. Throughout the extent of the aquifer excesses of nitrate and chloride occurs.

Gulf Coast

The Gulf Coast aquifer is a major aquifer that parallels the Gulf of Mexico coastline running all the way from the Louisiana border to the Mexico border. It consists of several minor aquifers that are composed of silt, clay and gravel beds. Water quality varies with location, being good in the central and northeastern areas and declines to the south where it can contain total dissolved solids more than 10,000 milligrams per liter. Also, naturally high levels of radionuclides can be found in some wells from the aquifer.

Carrizo-Wilcox

The Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer is a major aquifer that extends from the Louisiana border to the Mexico border adjacent to the Gulf Coast aquifer. The water is hard but generally fresh with typically less than 500 milligrams per liter of total dissolved solids in the outcrop. Softer water and more than 1,000 milligrams per liter of total dissolved solids can be found in the subsurface.

Hueco-Mesilla Bolsons

The Hueco-Mesilla Bolsons aquifer is actually two aquifers that are located on either side of the Franklin Mountains in far west Texas. Very little water passes between them but they share very similar geology. Both aquifers contain fresh to saline water with the Hueco Bolson ranging up to 3,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids while the Mesilla Bolson contains up to 5,000 milligrams per liter dissolved solids. Nearly 90% of the water pumped from the Hueco Bolson is used for public supply. Heavy pumping has reduced the level by several hundred feet but stabilization of levels have been recently observed.

Ogallala

The Ogallala aquifer is the largest aquifer in North America with its southern section extending into the Texas panhandle. About 95% of the water taken out of the aquifer is used for agricultural irrigation. Extensive pumping that exceeds recharge has caused levels to decline. However, conservation efforts have caused levels to rise in certain areas. To the north, total dissolved solids are less than 400 milligrams per liter while in the southern portion of the aquifer total dissolved solids can exceed 1,000 milligrams per liter.

Edwards-Trinity (Plateau)

Comprising much of the southwestern portion of the state, the Edwards-Trinity (Plateau) crosses from the Texas hill country into the Trans-Pecos region. Water quality can vary with total dissolved solids reaching 3,000 milligrams per liter. About two thirds of the water pumped from the aquifer is used for irrigation, and the rest used for irrigation and municipal purposes. Recharge has kept pace with withdrawal due to relative light use of the water.

Edwards (Balcones Fault Zone)

The Edwards (BFZ) is a major aquifer in the south central part of Texas. It is a highly permeable aquifer because of the partially dissolved limestone that it consists of. The city of San Antonio receives almost all of it water from this aquifer. Several well-known springs including the largest spring in the state, Comal Springs, come from the Edwards (BFZ). The water is generally fresh with less than 500 milligrams per liter of total dissolved solids.

Trinity

The Trinity aquifer is a major aquifer that covers much of the central and northeastern part of the state. Heavy municipal pumping has resulted in declines of the water level of up to 1,000 feet in parts of the state. But recent recovery has been seen due to the increased reliance on surface water. The water is generally fresh but very hard in the outcrop. Dissolved solids can be as high as 5,000 milligrams per liter.

For more detailed information on the aquifers, including the minor ones, download the Texas Water Development Board's report 380
Images and information in this post was gleaned from this report.

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The Major Aquifers of Texas - Texas Water Operators

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Define "aquifer" and list four major aquifers The TCEQ "A Water" test may ask you to name only four majors aquifers. But there are actually 9 major ones as listed by the Texas Water Development Board.

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http://www.wineandvinesearch.com/united_states/texas.php

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Directory with Wineries listed by country and regions, maps showing the various Wine producing regions and Wine related news.

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http://riogranderivers.weebly.com/

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Stretching over 3,000 kilometers, the Rio Grande River flows through the U.S. and down to Mexico, even forming the border for a little more than 2,000 kilometers. When it reaches west Texas, the "big...

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This region is a grassland of sorts. There are underground lakes (aquifers) in this region as well. The San Marcos Underground Springs is a spring that is flowing at the bottom of a lake. Some divers come visit just to see the underwater bubbling!

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The Edwards Plateau is a landform in this region. A plateau is high ground, that is flat or level. The Edwards Plateau was formed by deposition. Over many years, sandstone, limestone, and shales were dropped and this landform was formed.

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https://news.agu.org/press-release/texas-surprise-when-trees-shrubs-replace-grasses-water-flows-can-increase/

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4 March 2010

WASHINGTON-Contrary to prevailing wisdom, the takeover of rangelands by trees and shrubs can increase flows of streams and recharging of groundwater, a new study shows. The soon-to-be published analysis of many decades of historical records for four central Texas river basins challenges widespread perceptions that woody plants have the opposite effects on streams and aquifers.

The researchers found evidence that, from around 1890 to 1960, overgrazing and resultant soil degradation, not encroachment by woody plants, were the main culprits behind reductions in streamflows and recharging of groundwater in the semiarid central region known as the Edwards Plateau. The region is the primary water source for the Edwards Aquifer, which supplies the city of San Antonio and numerous smaller municipalities.

Large numbers of cattle, sheep, and goats that continuously grazed the area's rangelands led to widespread soil degradation, partly hindering the amount of water recharging springs and groundwater, says hydrologist Bradford Wilcox of Texas A&M University and Texas AgriLife Research, in College Station, Texas.

He and Yun Huang, a former graduate student at Texas A&M, will publish their results in an upcoming issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

From 1880 to 1900, there were more animals on the land than it could support, Wilcox says. For a short period of time near the turn of the last century, stocking rates were 10 times greater than current levels. Since the late 1900s, however, as fewer cattle and other livestock were used on the land for agricultural production, the region has gone through revitalization.

"As a result, these landscapes are recovering, but they've also converted to woody plants," Wilcox notes. "We're also seeing large-scale increases in the amount of spring flows. This is opposite of what everybody is presuming -[which is that] the trees are there sucking up all of this water. The trees are actually allowing the water to infiltrate."

In fact, spring flows are twice as high as they were prior to 1950, he adds.

"This area was basically converted from grassland to shrubland after many years of heavy livestock grazing. What people have forgotten is that in the time period between healthy grasslands and the current shrublands, there was an extended period when the land was quite degraded. Subsequent to 1960, livestock numbers have declined and the landscape has recovered although there are now more cedar than in the past," Wilcox explains.

In the new study, he and Huang, who is now with LBG Guyton, in Austin, assess the hydrological changes that have taken place in the region as patterns of land use and vegetation changed. To do so, the researchers analyzed annual measurements dating back to 1925, or earlier, for the Nueces, Frio, Guadulupe, and Llano rivers. The measurements provide an annual record of 'baseflow,' or flow derived from groundwater only (i.e. springs) and of 'stormflow' or flow resulting from rainfall, for those rivers.

The scientists report that the total flow in the three of the four rivers has gone up in recent decades, "largely because contributions in the form of baseflow have increased." The baseflow of the fourth river also increased, although its total flow did not. Yet, rainfall in the region hasn't changed significantly.

Although the prevailing wisdom has been that proliferation of woody plants stifles infiltration of water back into aquifers, the new results suggest otherwise. Moreover, the results have implications beyond the Edwards Plateau, Wilcox and Huang maintain, applying in general to "semiarid and subhumid rangelands in which springs and intermittent or perennial streams are found." For such regions, the transition to woody plants appears to be good news for regional water resources.

Title

"Woody Plant Encroachment Paradox: Rivers Rebound as Degraded Grasslands Convert to Woodlands"

Bradford P. Wilcox

and Yun Huang
Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

Brad Wilcox, Professor

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Texas surprise: When trees, shrubs replace grasses, water flows can increase - AGU Newsroom

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WASHINGTON-Contrary to prevailing wisdom, the takeover of rangelands by trees and shrubs can increase flows of streams and recharging of groundwater, a new study shows. The soon-to-be published analysis of many decades of historical records for four central Texas river basins challenges widespread perceptions that woody plants have the opposite effects on streams and aquifers.

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- There is a place called Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg that has many minerals. The Natives used to believe it was a "holy" place.
- Austin and Fredericksburg are in this region.
- The average inches of rainfall per year in this region is 15-34.

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http://texastreeid.tamu.edu/content/texasEcoRegions/EdwardsPlateau/

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Texas A&M Forest Service - Trees of Texas - Ecoregions - Edwards Plateau

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Thought of as the southern extension of the Great Plains, bison were known to frequent the Edwards Plateau. Their migration in great numbers undoubtedly affected the landscape, plant communities, and the cultures of early human inhabitants. Anglo settlement brought German farming communities, and adventurous livestock ranchers which have been since identified with Texas.

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This area is made of mostly grasslands and plains. There are also many canyons in this region. Canyons are big, steep ravines that have been carved out by rivers flowing in the region.

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The Llano Estacado is on a plateau in this region, and is a treeless plain. Llano Estacado means "Staked Plains".

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- Amarillo and Lubbock are in this region.
- This region gets about 15-28 inches of rain per year.
- A long while ago, Indians painted masterpieces on the walls of caves.
- Roadrunners and tarantulas live here.

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This region has many aquifers including the Ogallala, Seymour, Nacotoch, Alluvium, Cenozoic, Pecos, and Edwards-Trinity.

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The Pineywoods region is mostly big forests full of pine trees, hence the name, Pineywoods. In this region, there are many animals that normally live in woodlands. There is also a section in this region called the "Big Thicket". It is an area low-lying wetlands where many interesting animals and plants live here such as the roadrunner and Cacti.

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The major landforms in the Pineywoods region of Texas is its many, many forests. Forests are a vast area of land covered in trees.

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- The major rivers in this area are the Sabine, Cypress, Sulphur, and Red.
- This region gets about 40-52 inches of rainfall per year.
- Bald Eagles live in this region.

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The major aquifer in this region is Carrizo-Wilcox.

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This region is a grassland prairie with patches of woodland sprinkled across the region. The soil in this region is very fertile... but it is also black. Some of this region is even called Blackland Prairie.

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The biggest landforms they have in this region are prairies. Prairies are are ecosystems that are part of savannas, temperate grasslands, and shrublands. They normally include shrubs and grasses instead of trees.

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- Popular state parks are Lake Fork, Lake Ray Roberts, and Cedar Hill State Park.
- Major cities in this area include Dallas and Gonzales.
- This region gets about 26-40 inches of rainfall per year.
- Many giant dinosaurs roamed here long ago.

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The major aquifer in this region is Trinity.

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Most of this area is dry and covered with grasses and thorny brush. Examples of thorny brush include mesquite and prickly pear cacti.

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The San Antonio River flows through this region. The San Antonio River starts with some springs up north of central San Antonio. The San Antonio river was one of the rivers crossed by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.

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- This region gets about 20-32 inches of rain per year.
- This region's major cities include Brownsville, Goliad, and Laredo.

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The major aquifers in this region are Edwards, Trinity, Carrizo-Wilcox, and Gulf Coast.

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There are two major aquifers in this region: Edwards and Carrixo-Wilcox.