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What are the contemporary sources of sediment in the Mississippi River?
Author(s) -
Hassan M. A.,
Roberge L.,
Church M.,
More M.,
Donner S. D.,
Leach J.,
Ali K. F.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl074046
Subject(s) - sediment , erosion , hydrology (agriculture) , drainage basin , arable land , sedimentary budget , floodplain , environmental science , structural basin , land use , geology , sediment transport , agriculture , geography , ecology , geomorphology , archaeology , geotechnical engineering , cartography , biology
Within the last two centuries, the Mississippi River basin has been transformed by changes in land use practices, dam construction, and training of the rivers for navigation. Here we analyze the contemporary patterns of fluvial sediment yield in the Mississippi River basin using all available data in order to assess the influence of regional land condition on the variation of sediment yield within the basin. We develop regional‐scale relations between specific sediment yield (yield per unit area) and drainage area to reveal contemporary regional sediment yield patterns and source areas of riverine sediments. Extensive upland erosion before the development of soil conservation practices exported large amounts of sediment to the valleys and floodplains. We show that sediment today is sourced primarily along the river valleys from arable land, and from stream bank and channel erosion, with sediment yields from areas dominated by arable land 2 orders of magnitude greater than that of grassland dominated areas. Comparison with the “ T factor,” a commonly quoted measure of agricultural soil resilience suggests that the latter may not reflect contemporary soil loss from the landscape.