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Coastal Sand Plain

Ecoregion in Atlantic Coastal Plain, TX

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The Coastal Sand Plain ecoregion provides a distinct break in both vegetation and surficial materials from the fine-textured soil grasslands of Ecoregion 34b to the north. This sand sheet landscape consists of active and (mostly) stabilized sand dune deposits with lesser amounts of silt sheet deposits (silt and fine sand) to the north. This depositional plain is characterized by a closed internal drainage system with only occasional discontinuous drainage remnants due to sand movement. Closed depressions pond water in response to seasonal and tropical storm precipitation. Soils developed on these parent sediments are Entisols and Alfisols with thick sand surfaces. The dominant grasses on the coastal sand ridges and islands extend inland covering parts of the sand plain. Vegetation is mostly mid and tall grasses such as seacoast bluestem, switchgrass, gulfdune paspalum, fringeleaf paspalum, sandbur, purple threeawn, pricklypear, and catclaw with an overstory of southern live oak and honey mesquite trees. The potholes have a variety of bulrushes and sedges. Most of the Coastal Sand Plain has been moderately to heavily grazed, and large areas have been converted to non-native range or pasture grasses. The region has little cropland compared to Ecoregion 34b.

— EPA

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