All but one of the papers contained in this volume represent a symposium summarizing the results of work carried on in Project 51 of the American Petroleum Institute. This study of modern sediments along the northwest margin of the Gulf of Mexico contains 14 papers plus a consolidated bibliography. Paper titles are: Geologic framework of Gulf coastal province of United States; Sources and dispersion of Holocene sediments; Mississippi delta; Delta building and the deltaic sequence; Phytoplankton production in the Mississippi delta; Bays of central Texas coast; Sediments of Laguna Madre; Gulf Coast barriers; Sediments and history of Holocene transgression; Sedimentary patterns of microfaunas; Ecology and distributional patterns of marine macro-invertebrates; Rise of see level; Regional aspects of modern sedimentation; and Recent sedimentology.