  We have made a detailed study of the ground-state properties of nuclei in the
light mass region with atomic numbers Z=10-22 in the framework of the
relativistic mean-field (RMF) theory. The nonlinear $\sigma\omega$ model with
scalar self-interaction has been employed. The RMF calculations have been
performed in an axially deformed configuration using the force NL-SH. We have
considered nuclei about the stability line as well as those close to proton and
neutron drip lines. It is shown that the RMF results provide a good agreement
with the available empirical data. The RMF predictions also show a reasonably
good agreement with those of the mass models. It is observed that nuclei in
this mass region are found to possess strong deformations and exhibit shape
changes all along the isotopic chains. The phenomenon of the shape coexistence
is found to persist near the stability line as well as near the drip lines. It
is shown that the magic number N=28 is quenched strongly, thus enabling the
corresponding nuclei to assume strong deformations. Nuclei near the neutron and
proton drip lines in this region are also shown to be strongly deformed.
