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The Gulf Coast is a major center of economic activity. The marshlands along the Louisiana and Texas coasts provide breeding grounds and nurseries for ocean life that drive the fishing and shrimping industries. The Port of South Louisiana ( New Orleans) and the Port of Houston are two of the ten busiest ports in the world by cargo volume. The discovery of oil and gas deposits along the coast and offshore, combined with easy access to shipping, have made the Gulf Coast the heart of the US petrochemical industry.

The Gulf Coast is intersected by numerous rivers, the largest being the MississippiThis page is about the river in the United States; for other uses, see Mississippi River (disambiguation). The Mississippi River is the second-longest river in the United States; the longest is the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi. Taken t. Land along the Gulf Coast tends to be low and flat, and much of it is (or was) marshland. The western portions of the Gulf Coast are of barrier islands and peninsulaA peninsula is a geographical formation consisting of an extension of land from a larger body that is surrounded by water on three sides. A peninsula can also be a headland, cape, promontory or spit. Peninsulas of the world: Continental Europe Apsheron, As, including the 130 mile (210 km) Padre Island and Galveston Island. These landforms protect numerous bays and inlets. In the central part of the Gulf Coast, stretching from eastern Texas across Louisiana, marshland dominates.

Because of its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, areas on the Gulf Coast are vulnerable to hurricanesThis article is about weather phenomena. For other uses, see Hurricane (disambiguation Typhoon (disambiguation and Tropical storm (disambiguation . Hurricane Ivan viewed from the International Space Station, September 2004. NASA photo by Edward Fincke.. FloodA flood (in Old English flod a word common to Teutonic languages; compare German Flut Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float is an overflow of water, an expanse of water submerging land, a deluge. In the sense of "flowing water", the wors and severe thunderstormEnschede, The Netherlands. A thunderstorm is a form of severe weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its attendant thunder. It is often accompanied by copious rainfall, or, on occasion, snowfall. Thunderstorms form when significant condenss also affect the region. TornadoFor other uses of Tornado, see Tornado (disambiguation). waterspout near Florida. A tornado is a violent windstorm characterized by a twisting, funnel-shaped cloud. The word "tornado" comes from the Spanish or Portuguese verb tornar meaning "to turn.es are infrequent but do occur. Earthquakes are virtually unheard of.