The major Holocene coastal depocenter west of the Mississippi delta in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico is the Rio Grande delta at the Texas-State of Tamaulipas, Mexico, border, a system that began to form about 7,000 years ago. This is clearly not a delta in its constructional phase. Rather, the coastline configuration is presently being altered and cut back by strong wave-driven energy and hurricanes (average rate of one every five years).