A Coastal Geology Retreat in Galveston

Twice a year a couple of my friends and I, all of us geoscientists, teach geology for Texas Parks and Wildlife Becoming an Outdoors Woman program. Occasionally we auction a hosted trip to Enchanted Rock (read: Enchanted Rock Trip Report: Camping, T. Rexing, & Wine Tasting), but this year our trip was to Galveston to explore coastal geology. I wanted to share not only the trip report on the blog, but the resources used so that anyone traveling to Galveston can explore coastal geology on their own, as well as shell, bird, and wildflower identification.

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Living in Houston and having every other Friday off work, our hosted field trips are usually three days. Galveston is very close and convenient for us, as opposed to Enchanted Rock. Typically, Friday is when we meet with the participants, set up our campsites, or in this case the beach house, and lecture. Saturday is the big hiking day, weather permitting, of course. And Sunday we squeeze in a little bit more geology in the morning, and then all head home. Our trip to Galveston was more relaxed and focused on the island, both the gulfside/oceanside and the bayside/marsh.

Gulfside Activities

On Friday while welcoming participants as they arrived, we walked to the Galveston Seawall and looked at coastal features such as barrier island formation, shoreface, swash zone, beach face, wrack line, berm, sand dunes, seawall construction and history, sand composition, longshore current and littoral drift, wavelengths and rip currents, jetty construction, and Town Mountain Granite geology. Beach-combing, sight-seeing, and people watching was also enjoyed. I was also excited to find a benchmark near Fort Crockett on the Seawall (above).

Bayside Activities

On Saturday we drove down to Galveston Island State Park to see coastal features from both the gulfside and the bayside of the island such as beach foreshore, backshore, dunes, lagoon and tidal flats, back bay, salt marsh wetlands, prairie, coves, and bayous. We definitely saw a difference in vegetation and critters between the two sides due to wave activity and salinity.

Visual Aids

Before the weekend, we prepared and e-mailed a generic field guide to the participants in case they wanted to familiarize themselves with any of the features and points of interest they might see on the island. This included all geologic terms mentioned above, as well as short blurbs on Pelican Island, USS Cavalla and USS Stewart, oil and gas drilling and production exhibits, and the 1877 tall ship ELISSA. Download the guide here: Coastal Geology Retreat Booklet

We also brought along part of my sand collection to show the participants how sand can vary in size, shape, and composition from location to location. I also included a geology coloring page that I made for the 25th anniversary of Becoming an Outdoors Woman (read and download Geology Swag at Becoming an Outdoors Woman here). And we brought three lightweight fold-able waterproof pamphlets for shell, bird, and wildflower identification. I love these quick reference guides and have them for many regions of Texas. Here are Amazon links for the guides used in Galveston and some of the things we identified below:

Shells: Shells of Texas: A Beachcomber’s Guide to the Gulf Coast (Common and Notable Species)

Birds: Birds of Southeast Texas & the Upper Texas Coast: A Guide to Common & Notable Species (Quick Reference Guides)

Wildflowers: Wildflowers of Southeast Texas: A Guide to Common Native Species (Quick Reference Guides)

Goose Barnacles on Driftwood
Beach Morning Glory on Dunes with Crab Tracks
Sargassum Seaweed on Beach
Beach Evening Primrose on Dunes
Laughing Gull at Galveston Island State Park
Indian Blanket on Dunes

We finished the weekend trip with a visit to my friend’s Victorian home currently under renovation, dinner in the historic Strand district, a trip to a local nursery, and late night conversation way past my bedtime (so much fun!). It was a great weekend spent with like-minded ladies sharing our wide range of knowledge and experiences with each other. If you attended and are reading this, thank you so much for spending time with us and letting us geek out about rocks and stuff. And if you’re reading this with the hopes of visiting Galveston and wanting to geek out about rocks and stuff, please do! Download the guide here (Coastal Geology Retreat Booklet) and have a great time!