Nueces Bay - Features

Features

Nueces Bay covers an area of 28.9 square miles (75 km2) and drains the 16,950 square miles (43,900 km2) of the Nueces River basin. It has an average depth of 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in), and a volume of 39,700 acre feet (49,000,000 m3). The bay is considered the southern extreme of the Texas Coastal Plain, which stretches northeast to Galveston Bay, and is part of the geographic transition from the grasslands of the coastal plain to the dry brush region of South Texas. It forms at the base of the Nueces River, which enters at the southwesternmost point of the bay. North of the Nueces entrance is the extension of Odem Bay, named for the nearby settlement of Odem. This extension includes shallow marsh fed by an extensive system of tidal streams including Rincon Bayou, and is headed by Whites Point to the east. Due south of Whites Point at the mouth of Odem Bay, is an oil field, situated against the backdrop of heavy industry on the shore to the southwest. The southern shore, which continues toward Rincon Point, is slender due to the industrial canal dredged to the south to the Port of Corpus Christi. The mouth of Nueces Bay on Corpus Christi Bay from Rincon Point to Indian Point, is crossed by the mile-long (1.6 km) Nueces Bay Causeway, which leads to Portland. West Portland is found on the shoreline of the bay as it curves north and west, which is lined with piers and residences. The bay leads back west to Whites Point on the north shore, which is largely used for agriculture.