An investigation of the rates and directions of drift in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico was initiated in January 1970 as part of a program to study depositional processes and sediment movement off the southern Texas coast. The first phase of that program, a study of coastal drift off south Texas, was reported by Hunter and others (1974). They reported on a three-year program of seasonal releases of both bottom and surface drifters on the south Texas shelf; this study confirmed the hypothesis that the yearly cycle of coastwise water movement is largely controlled by seasonally changing winds. They also showed complex convergences of both surface and bottom waters which shift along the coast, as well as a layered drift structure which periodically directs surface and bottom waters in opposite directions. Results of several drift studies in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico which preceded this study are summarized by Hunter and others (1974).
The second phase began in July 1973, when the study was shifted to the coast off north-central Texas . This report presents the first year results in the north-central area where studies are continuing.
