The Laguna Madre is a long, shallow, hypersaline lagoon along the western coast of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

in Nueces, Kenedy, Kleberg, Willacy and Cameron Counties in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. It is one of seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast of Texas. The roughly long Saltillo Flats

land bridge In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regression, in which sea le ...

divides it into Upper and Lower lagoons joined by the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a Navigability, inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, the ...

, which has been dredged through the lagoon. Cumulatively, Laguna Madre is approximately long, the length of

Padre Island Padre Island is the largest of the Texas barrier islands and the world's longest barrier island. The island is located along Texas's southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is noted for its white sandy beaches. Meaning ''father'' in Spanish, ...

in the US. The main extensions include

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; ; ; ), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a s ...

in Upper Laguna Madre, Red Fish Bay just below the Saltillo Flats, and South Bay near the Mexican border. As a natural ecological unit, the Laguna Madre of the United States is the northern half of the ecosystem as a whole, which extends into Tamaulipas, Mexico approximately south of the US border, to the vicinity of the Rio Soto La Marina and the town of La Pesca, extending approximately through USA and Mexico in total.Tunnell, Jr. John W. and Frank W. Judd. editors. (2002). ''The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas''. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas. xxi, 346 pp. The lagoon's ecosystem is protected by the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and the

Padre Island National Seashore Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) is a national seashore administered by the National Park Service, located on Padre Island off the coast of South Texas, USA. In contrast to South Padre Island, Texas, South Padre Island, known for its beach ...

, as well as the privately owned

King Ranch King Ranch is the largest ranch in the United States. At some it is larger than the area of the European country Luxembourg. It is mainly a cattle ranch, but also produced the racehorse Assault (horse), Assault, who won the United States Tri ...

. The human history predates the formation of the Laguna Madre, and settlements have been established at Port Isabel and Port Mansfield on the lagoon's shores.

History

Laguna Madre was formed about 3,000 years ago, after the stabilization of the sea level on the Texas Coast, culminating in the rise of

. The Baffin Bay extension is considerably older than Laguna Madre, and formed as a river valley during the

Pleistocene epoch The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

, over 12,000 years ago. Early peoples obtained oysters from the bay, which were eliminated due to changes in salinity after the full formation of Laguna Madre. The first people to encounter the new lagoon were most likely the nomadic Karankawa and

Coahuiltecan The Coahuiltecan were various small, autonomous bands of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans who inhabited the Rio Grande valley in what is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. The various Coahuiltecan groups were hunter ga ...

Indians. The Spanish explorer

Alonso Álvarez de Pineda Alonso Álvarez de Pineda (; 1494–1520) was a Spanish conquistador and cartography, cartographer who was the first to prove the insularity of the Gulf of Mexico by sailing around its coast. In doing so he created the first map to depict what i ...

is believed to be the first European to come in contact with Laguna Madre in the early 16th century, and is credited with giving it the name, which is Spanish for "mother lagoon". Several land grants were handed out by the Spanish government for ranching near the lagoon. The first was believed to have been given to José Nicolás Cabazos in 1792, which included in the area south of Baffin Bay to the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

. Cabazos stocked the land with 900 cattle. American ranching settlements developed following the Mexican War, including the

, which was established in 1847 by Richard King. The area near present-day Port Isabel was used as a resort for Spaniards after watersellers came ashore in the late 18th century looking for freshwater supplies. A settlement known as Point Isabel was established at the location in the 1830s, and in 1853, the Point Isabel Lighthouse was constructed to overlook the lagoon. The city was named Port Isabel in 1928, and in 1954, the

Queen Isabella Causeway The Queen Isabella Memorial Bridge, formerly the Queen Isabella Causeway, is a concrete pier-and-beam bridge with a steel cantilever main beam span connecting Port Isabel, Texas, Port Isabel to South Padre Island in southern Cameron County, Texas ...

, the longest bridge in Texas, was constructed across Laguna Madre to

South Padre Island South Padre Island is a barrier island in the U.S. state of Texas. The remote landform is located in Cameron County, Willacy County, and accessible by the Queen Isabella Causeway. South Padre Island was formed when the creation of the Port Ma ...

. A newer bridge was built in 1974, but part of it collapsed on September 15, 2001, after being hit by a barge, causing eight people to plunge to their deaths and significantly hindering the economy of South Texas. It was rebuilt and reopened in November of that year. Port Isabel had 4,865 residents during the 2000 census. To the north, Port Mansfield was established in 1950, at the old fishing community of Red Fish Landing. It was named after United States Congressman Joseph J. Mansfield ( D-TX), who introduced the bill that extended the

from Corpus Christi to Brownsville in the 1940s. The Port Mansfield Ship Channel was dredged in 1957 across Padre Island and redredged in 1962 after work was done to improve the jetties. The cut allows an influx of seawater into the Lower Laguna Madre to improve the fishing and shipping industry of Port Mansfield. The community had 415 residents in 2000.

Features

Laguna Madre is found between the mainland of South Texas and Padre Island. At this location between the

Nueces River The Nueces River ( ; , ) is a river in the U.S. state of Texas, about long. It drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande. ''Nu ...

and the

, the climate is dry and it is sometimes referred to as the Wild Horse Desert. The western shore, a large part of which is included in the

, is usually marked by sand dunes,

yucca ''Yucca'' ( , YUCK-uh) is both the scientific name and common name for a genus native to North America from Panama to southern Canada. It contains 50 accepted species. In addition to yucca, they are also known as Adam's needle or Spanish-bayon ...

, prickly pear, century plants and an occasional oak tree bent by the wind. The lagoon is split by a expanse of sand flats, named the Saltillo Flats, which are located about from the northern extreme near the John F. Kennedy Memorial Causeway in Corpus Christi. This part of the lagoon is known as the Upper Laguna Madre and includes the extension of

near Kingsville, and Bird Island on the eastern Padre Island shore, northeast of the opening of Baffin Bay. The Lower Laguna Madre includes the area south of the Saltillo Flats to the extension of South Bay near Port Isabel, and is crossed by the

. Included in the Lower Laguna Madre is Red Fish Bay, which is found along the shoreline of the King Ranch, south to Port Mansfield. Together with its extensions, the lagoon forms one of seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast of Texas. The lagoon is shallow and narrow, averaging only in depth and to in width. The depth is only to in the areas not dredged to form the deep, wide Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which runs the bay's length and joins the upper and lower stretches. Two types of hard reef are found in the lagoon bed and on the shoreline, including beach rock reefs (shell and sand bound by

calcium carbonate Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a common substance found in Rock (geology), rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite, most notably in chalk and limestone, eggshells, gastropod shells, shellfish skel ...

cement) common south of Baffin Bay due to the occasional shifts in the Laguna Madre coastal shoreline; and Serpulid reefs, common in Baffin Bay, and elsewhere in the system, formed between 300 and 3,000 years ago by the annelid's calcareous tubes.

Hypersalinity

Laguna Madre has a salinity of 36

parts per thousand In science and engineering, the parts-per notation is a set of pseudo-units to describe the small values of miscellaneous dimensionless quantities, e.g. mole fraction or mass fraction. Since these fractions are quantity-per-quantity measures ...

(ppt), which is above the seawater average of 35 ppt. Because of the high salinity, it holds the distinction as one of the Earth's six hypersaline lagoons/bays, the others being Sivash in Ukraine, Laguna Ojo de Liebre on the west coast of

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, Spencer Gulf and

Shark Bay Shark Bay () is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The area is located approximately north of Perth, on the westernmost point of the Australian continent. UNESCO's listing of Shark Bay as a World Heritage S ...

in Australia, and the Laguna Madre of Tamaulipas, which is sometimes grouped with the Laguna Madre of Texas as one system. The reasons for the lagoon's hypersalinity include its isolation from other bodies of water, the lack of a significant river source, and a high rate of evaporation caused by its shallowness and dry climate. Its salinity was even greater before the Port Mansfield Gulf Channel was dredged on Padre Island, which allowed a larger amount of seawater exchange. However, very little water exchange occurs at all; every second only of water flows into the lagoon. Rainwater from tropical storms and hurricanes is the only significant fresh water the bay receives. The salinity is greatest in the Lower Laguna Madre, where it averages around 45 ppt.

Ecosystem

The Laguna Madre is one of the most important and unspoiled lagoon ecosystems in Texas. It is also one of the most protected in the United States; 75% of its shores are protected by the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge to the west and the

on the east. Fish, shrimp and crab, which feed the bird populations, depend on the lagoon and its plentiful beds of

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

for survival. The seagrass of Laguna Madre accounts for 80% of all seagrass found off the Texas Coast; however, it is threatened by brown tides caused by poor circulation and dredging. An influx of seawater can sometimes replace the vital seagrass with oyster beds.

Fish

Laguna Madre is home to more finfish than anywhere else on the Texas coast, with such species as blue catfish, hardhead catfish, Atlantic croaker, black drum,

red drum The red drum (''Sciaenops ocellatus''), also known as redfish, channel bass, puppy drum, spottail bass, or simply red, is a game fish found in the Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to northern Mexi ...

, southern flounder, alligator gar, houndfish, crevalle jack, southern kingfish, ladyfish, Atlantic midshipman, mojarras, striped mullet, pinfish, Florida pompano,

smooth butterfly ray The smooth butterfly ray (''Gymnura micrura'') is a species of Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous fish in the family Gymnuridae. It is a member of the order Myliobatiformes, which contains 10 total families. Its natural habitats are shallow seas, subt ...

, spotted seatrout,

blacktip shark The blacktip shark (''Carcharhinus limbatus'') is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae. It is common to coastal tropical and subtropical waters around the world, including brackish habitats. Genetic analyses have ...

, sheepshead, bigmouth sleeper, gray snapper,

common snook The common snook (''Centropomus undecimalis'') is a species of marine fish in the family Centropomidae of the order Perciformes. The common snook is also known as the sergeant fish or robalo. It was originally assigned to the sciaenid genus ' ...

, southern stargazer, southern stingray and tripletail.

Birds

Many fowl migrate and live around the lagoon including 75% of all redhead ducks. Other birds in the area include the

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

piping plover The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, Passerellidae, sparrow-sized wader, shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band acro ...

, roseate spoonbill, long-billed curlew, crane,

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

and the brown pelican. Sea turtles and dolphins can be found in the bay, while cattle,

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

nilgai The nilgai (''Boselaphus tragocamelus'') (, literally meaning "blue cow") is the largest antelope of Asia, and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent. It is the sole member of the genus (biology), genus ''Boselaphus'', which was ...

and

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

s can sometimes be seen near the shore. In Laguna Madre, Bird Island Basin is home to a wide variety of birds when wet, including black-necked stilts, roseate spoonbills,

great egret The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, great white egret, or great white heron, is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe. R ...

s, American white ibis, and many others.

Industry

The ports of Port Isabel and Port Mansfield rely on the fishing and shrimping industries. In the 1960s, Port Isabel averaged a catch of of shrimp annually, which accounted for 65% of the entire production in Texas. In Port Mansfield, the fishing industry has greatly expanded with the opening of the Port Mansfield Channel, allowing a steady accumulation of red fish, brown shrimp, and flounder. Because of the bay's environmental protections, very few manufacturing plants have been constructed in the area. Following an environmental campaign, the

Valero Energy Corporation Valero Energy Corporation is an American-based Petroleum industry, fuels producer mostly involved in manufacturing and marketing transportation fuels and other petrochemical, related products. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United ...

constructed an oil and gas pipeline from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande Valley to decrease the shipment of oil and gas along the Intracoastal Waterway, greatly diminishing the chance of a spill.

Activists Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

have likewise railed against a proposed

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

farm off Baffin Bay, due to the potential harm to the scenic shores and the bird populations. The tourism industry is also a mainstay for communities on the lagoon. Beach-goers must pass the Laguna Madre to reach the prime beaching destination at both North and South Padre Islands. Fishing has drawn tourists to Port Isabel, where the Texas International Fishing Tournament has been held since 1934. Visitors also flock to Bird Island off the western coast of Padre Island, for windsurfing, kayaking, and other water sports.

References

External links

* * {{Good article Madre Estuaries of Texas Geography of Corpus Christi, Texas Bodies of water of Nueces County, Texas Bodies of water of Kenedy County, Texas Bodies of water of Kleberg County, Texas Bodies of water of Willacy County, Texas Bodies of water of Cameron County, Texas