ABSTRACTLand subsidence increases the area in the Texas Coastal Zone which will be inundated by marine waters from hurricane flooding. Storm surge from a Carla‐sized hurricane in 1976 would flood at least 25 square miles (65 km2) more land than Hurricane Carla did in 1961.Land subsidence in Harris and Galveston Counties results primarily from ground‐water production. The two‐county area is interlaced with active surface faults with topographic escarpments and surface faults with no topographic escarpments that control drainage patterns and create subtle photographic linear patterns. Ground‐water production activates these faults by differential compaction of the aquifer. The faults appear to be partial hydrologic barriers that compartmentalize land subsidence into several individual
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