Open AccessIs It Feasible to Build New Land in the Mississippi River Delta?
Author(s) -
Kim Wonsuck,
Mohrig David,
Twilley Robert,
Paola Chris,
Parker Gary
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2009eo420001
Subject(s) - levee , river delta , delta , sedimentation , hydrology (agriculture) , sediment , channel (broadcasting) , subsidence , geology , square (algebra) , environmental science , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , geometry , electrical engineering , mathematics , structural basin , aerospace engineering , engineering
What if the Mississippi River levees were cut below New Orleans? What if much of the water and sediment were allowed to flow out and build new deltas? Could deltaic land loss be reversed, and indeed restored? Using a conservative sediment supply rate and a range of rates of sea level rise and subsidence, a physically based model of deltaic river sedimentation [ Kim et al. , 2009] predicts that approximately 700–1200 square kilometers of new land (exposed surface and in‐channel freshwater habitat) could be built over a century (Figure 1).