Delta Dynamics

The combined effects of sediment starvation, subsidence, sea-level rise, erosion, fluid (water, oil, and gas) mining, and wetland destruction threaten the sustainability of many deltas worldwide. In a 2017 study, geographer Brady Couvillion and colleagues, at the Coastal Restoration Assessment Branc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNatural history Vol. 126; no. 6; pp. 24 - 29
Main Author Chamberlain, Elizabeth L
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Natural History Magazine, Inc 01.06.2018
Subjects
Climate change
Climate effects
Floods
Rivers
Sea level
Wetlands
Mississippi
Baton Rouge Louisiana
Louisiana
Atchafalaya River
Mississippi River
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Summary:The combined effects of sediment starvation, subsidence, sea-level rise, erosion, fluid (water, oil, and gas) mining, and wetland destruction threaten the sustainability of many deltas worldwide. In a 2017 study, geographer Brady Couvillion and colleagues, at the Coastal Restoration Assessment Branch of the U. S. Geological Survey Wetland and Aquatic Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, reported that net land loss rates in the Mississippi Delta of southeastern Louisiana, amounted to forty-five square kilometers (km2) over the last century. The plan identifies the causes of land loss to "the effects of climate change, sea level rise, subsidence, hurricanes, storm surges, flooding, disconnecting the Mississippi River from coastal marshes, and human impacts." The land grades from higher elevation extensive sugar cane fields, rice paddies, and crawfish ponds to lower elevation fishing communities poised along the thin strip of subaerial land next to the bayou and protected from the ocean by a ring of humanmade levees.
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ISSN:0028-0712