SPACEPHOTOS

Corpus Christi and Aransas Pass are featured in this southeast-looking, low-oblique photograph. Corpus Christi, on the western shore of Corpus Christi Bay, is a petroleum and natural gas center with much heavy industry. Important to the city’s economy are oil refineries, smelting plants, chemical works, fishing and shrimping, and tourism. The Corpus Christi Naval Air Station is east of the city near the Intracoastal Waterway and the causeway to Padre Island, a barrier island. Visible are sediment-laden Corpus Christi Bay, a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, and Nueces Bay, separated by a causeway to the west. Nueces Bay covers the former mouth of the Nueces River, which extended into Corpus Christi Bay when sea levels were lower during the last ice age. Following the northeast curve of the mainland above Corpus Christi Bay are Aransas Pass, a resort and fishing center for south Texas; Aransas Bay; and Copano Bay to its west.