Sand as a stable and sustainable resource for nourishing the Mississippi River delta

Nature Geoscience

Volumn 7, Issue 5, 2014, Pages 350-354

  Nittrouer, Jeffrey A ^a   Viparelli, Enrica ^b  

^a RICE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b University of South Carolina   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DAM CONSTRUCTION; DELTA; ESTIMATION METHOD; FLOW MODELING; MORPHODYNAMICS; SAND; SUSPENDED SEDIMENT; WETLAND;

LOUISIANA; MISSISSIPPI DELTA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 84899699756     PISSN: 17520894     EISSN: 17520908     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2142     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Walker, H. J., Coleman, J. M., Roberts, H. H. & Tye, R. S. Wetland Loss in Louisiana. Geografiska Annaler 69A, 189-200 (1987).
2. Morton, R. A. & Bernier, J. C. Recent subsidence-rate reductions in the Mississippi Delta and their geological implications. J. Coast. Res. 26, 555-561 (2010).
3. Meade, R. H. & Moody, J. A. Causes for the decline of suspended-sediment discharge in the Mississippi River system, 1940-2007. Hydrol. Process 24, 35-49 (2010).
4. Blum, M. D. & Roberts, H. H. Drowning of the Mississippi delta due to insufficient sediment supply and global sea-level rise. Nature Geosci. 2, 488-491 (2009).
5. Roberts, H. H., Coleman, J. M., Bentley, S. J. & Walker, N. An embryonic major delta lobe: A new generation of delta studies in the Atchafalaya-Wax Lake Delta system. Gulf Coast Assoc. Geol. Soc. Trans. 53, 690-703 (2003).
6. Mohrig, D. & Armstrong, C. Building the coastline: Linking study of the modern and ancient depositional environments to predict the response of Mississippi River delta to environmental change. AGU (Fall Meeting Suppl.) abstr. EP43D-1491680 (2012).
7. American Association of Port Authorities. World Port Rankings (2008); http://www.aapa-ports.org/Industry/content.cfm?ItemNumber= 900& navItemNumber=551
8. State of Louisiana Final Louisiana 2012 Master Plan Report (2012); http://www.coastalmasterplan.louisiana.gov/2012-master-plan/final-master-plan/
9. Lorenzo-Trueba, J. et al. Exploring the role of organic matter accumulation on delta evolution. J. Geophys. Res. 117, 1-12 (2012).
10. Wilson, C. A. & Allison, M. A. Sediment dynamics and geomorphology of eroding marsh shorelines in southeastern Louisiana. Estuar. Coast Shelf S. 80, 483-494 (2008).
11. Nepf, H. M. Ecogeomorphology of Tidal Marshes 137-163 (American Geophysical Union, 2004).
12. Baumann, R. H., Day, J.W. & Miller, C. A. Mississippi deltaic wetland survival: Sedimentation versus coastal submergence. Science 224, 1093-1095 (1984).
13. Kenney, M. A. et al. Cost analysis of water and sediment diversions to optimize land building in the Mississippi River delta. Wat. Resour. Res. 49, 3388-3405 (2013).
14. Kim, W., Mohrig, D., Twilley, R., Paola, C. & Parker, G. Is it feasible to build new land in the Mississippi River Delta? Eos Trans. AGU 90, 373-374 (2009).
15. Paola, C. et al. Natural processes in delta restoration: Application to the Mississippi Delta. Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 3, 67-91 (2011).
16. Day, G., Dietrich, W. E., Rowland, J. C. & Marshall, A. The depositional web on the floodplain of the Fly River, Papua New Guinea. J. Geophys. Res. 113, 1-19 (2008).
17. Nittrouer, J. A., Mohrig, D. & Allison, M.A. Punctuated sand transport in the lowermost Mississippi River. J. Geophys. Res. 116, 1-24 (2011).
18. Nittrouer, J. A., Shaw, J., Lamb, M. P. & Mohrig, D. Spatial and temporal trends for water-flow velocity and bed-material sediment transport in the lower Mississippi River. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 124, 400-414 (2012).
19. Nittrouer, J. A. et al. Mitigating land loss in coastal Louisiana by controlled diversion of Mississippi River sand. Nature Geosci. 5, 534-537 (2012).
20. Horowitz, A. J. K. A., Elrick, & Smith, J. J. Annual suspended sediment and trace element fluxes in the Mississippi, Columbia, Colorado, and Rio Grande drainage basins. Hydrol. Process 15, 1169-1207 (2001).
21. Saucier, R. T. Geomorphology and Quaternary Geologic History of the Lower Mississippi Valley (US Army Corps of Engineers, 1994).
22. Edmonds, D. A. Stability of backwater-influenced river bifurcations: A study of the Mississippi-Atchafalaya system. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39, 1-5 (2012).
23. Fisk, H. N. Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River (Mississippi River Commission, 1944).
24. National Resources Conservation Service. Phase II Sedimentation Assessment for the Upper Missouri River Basin: Assessment Report. Report available at: http://www.msaconline.com/ Missouri%20River%20Phase%20II%20%20Report.pdf Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, in consultation with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Geological Survey. 51 (2009).
25. Smith, N. D. & Perez-Arlucea, M. Natural levee deposition during the 2005 flood of the Saskatchewan River. Geomorphology 101, 583-594 (2008).
26. Nittrouer, J. A., Mohrig, D., Allison, M. A. & Peyret, A. B. The lowermost Mississippi River: A mixed bedrock-alluvial channel. Sedimentology 58, 1914-1934 (2011).
27. Nittrouer, J. A., Allison, M. A. & Campanella, R. Bedform transport rates for the lowermost Mississippi River. J. Geophys. Res. 113, 1-16 (2008).
28. Lauer, J.W. & Parker, G. Net local removal of floodplain sediment by river meander migration. Geomorphology 96, 123-149 (2008).
29. Syvitski, J. P. M. et al. Sinking deltas due to human activities. Nature Geosci. 2, 681-686 (2009).
30. Kolker, A. S., Allison, M. A. & Hameedj, S. An evaluation of subsidence rates and sea-level variability in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, 1-6 (2011).