Offshore state lateral boundaries define part of the geographic extent of the submerged lands that a state holds and manages in the public trust. Well-defined boundaries help a state manage its natural resources and statutory obligations with a measured amount of certainty. However, state lateral boundaries, both on land and at sea, have not always been stable and well defined. The historic record often shows conflicting borders that have led to interstate disagreements, court cases, and in some instances lingering stalemates. These data show the approximate position of a states offshore lateral boundary based on official and unofficial sources. Some boundaries have been omitted when a sufficient data source could not be found.

These data show the location of ocean observing assets within U.S. waters, and the physical parameters generally collected at each platform or gauge.

These data show the location of probable oil or gas geologic structures (plays) mapped within the outer continental shelf of the United States. Plays are groups of known or postulated subsurface hydrocarbon accumulations that share common geologic, geographic, and temporal properties, such as history of hydrocarbon generation, migration, reservoir development, and entrapment. Seismic surveys were used to analyze the Unrecovered Technically Recoverable Resource. Plays are displayed as two-dimensional features, but may overlap vertically allowing for multiple plays in the same area.

This dataset represents US states and equivalent territorial units which have at least one coastal border.

This product resulted from merging four regional datasets containing BOEM Planning Area outlines. The use of these Planning Areas makes it easier to refer to Official Protraction Diagrams (OPD) and individual blocks within a region. The Submerged Lands Act (SLA) boundary, along with the Continental Shelf Boundary (CSB), the Limit of Protraction were used to complete the polygons for the Planning Areas. Because GIS projection and topology functions can change or generalize coordinates, these GIS files are considered to be approximate and are NOT an OFFICIAL record for the exact block coordinates or areas. The Official Protraction Diagrams (OPDs) and Supplemental Official OCS Block Diagrams (SOBDs) serve as the legal definition for BOEM offshore boundary coordinates and area descriptions. If any discrepancies are found between these shapefiles and the OPDs and SOBDs, it is the OPD and SOBD diagrams which take precedence. The original datasets were developed in UTM. Here they are projected in WGS_1984_World_Mercator. As a result, any area values computed from this dataset may differ from the official BOEM areas.

To remove the federal incentive to develop coastal barriers, the Coastal Barrier Resources Act designated relatively undeveloped coastal barriers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts as part of the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System. These areas are ineligible for most new federal expenditures and financial assistance.

This dataset represents US counties and independent cities which have at least one coastal border and select non-coastal counties and independent cities based on proximity to estuaries and other coastal counties.

These data show point sample sediment location and texture within the United States Exclusive Economic Zone. This is an aggregate data product compiled from the USGS usSEABED and the East Coast Sediment Texture Database, and NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts. A new generalized texture value was compiled by normalizing across the three input data sets. Additional attributes such as Munsell coloration, grain size, and composition are available in the original sources.

These data show the local of well-known places along the coast of the United States and its territories.

These data represent the extent of the nation's coastal zone, as defined by the individual states and territories under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA). The CZMA was established to preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or enhance the resources of the nation's coastal zone. The zone generally extends seaward to the boundary of the Submerged Lands Act. The zone extends inland from the shorelines only to the extent necessary to control shorelands that have a direct and significant impact on coastal waters. Lands held in trust by the Federal Government have been included in this boundary unless otherwise noted, as accurately representing these could be erroneous. State jurisdiction extends to 3nm, except for Texas, Puerto Rico and Florida's Gulf coast extends to 9nm. Great Lakes states have jurisdiction to the international boundary with Canada. CZMA applies in EEZ through federal consistency. This boundary is unofficial. For precise, regulatory boundaries, please contact the state or territorial coastal program office.