Geography of Texas - Physical Geography

Physical Geography

Texas covers a total area of 268,581 sq mi (695,620 km2). The longest straight line distance is from the northwest corner of the panhandle to the Rio Grande just below Brownsville, 801 mi (1,289 km). The largest continental state is so expansive that El Paso, in the western corner of the state, is closer to San Diego, California than to Beaumont, near the Louisiana state line; Beaumont, in turn, is closer to Jacksonville, Florida than it is to El Paso. Texarkana, in the northeastern corner of the state, is about the same distance from Chicago, Illinois as it is to El Paso, and Dalhart, in the northwestern corner of the state, is closer to the state capitals of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming than it is to Austin, its own state capital.

The geographic center of Texas is about 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Brady in northern McCulloch County. Guadalupe Peak, at 8,749 feet (2,667 m) above sea level is the highest point in Texas, the lowest being sea level where Texas meets the Gulf of Mexico. Texas has five state forests and 120 state parks for a total over 605,000 acres (2,450 km2). There are 3,700 named streams and 15 major river systems flowing through 191,000 miles (307,000 km) of Texas. Eventually emptying into seven major estuaries, these rivers support over 212 reservoirs.

With 10 climatic regions, 14 soil regions, and 11 distinct ecological regions, regional classification becomes problematic with differences in soils, topography, geology, rainfall, and plant and animal communities.