Eli5 how are ocean waters crystal clear in some parts but the same ocean be muddy and nasty just a few miles down the road?

Question

For example take Galveston Texas, the beaches there are not exactly the nicest and I’ve never been there when the water wasn’t brown and murky but 100 miles down the road in Port Aransas they beaches look almost like flordia with clear waters.

In: 2

Answer 1

The reason the waters are brown and murky along the Texas-Louisiana-Mississippi Gulf Coast is because of the power of the Mississippi River, which empties tons of silt into the Gulf each day.