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Using What We Have: Optimizing Sediment Management in Mississippi River Delta Restoration to Improve the Economic Viability of the Nation

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Perspectives on the Restoration of the Mississippi Delta

Part of the book series: Estuaries of the World ((EOTW))

Abstract

Management practices on the Mississippi River have reduced the amount of sediment in the river by approximately half. Some have questioned whether the current sediment load in the river is sufficient for restoration of the delta. The Mississippi River does not now, nor has it ever supplied enough sediment to continuously sustain the entire Mississippi Delta coastline. Nevertheless, the available sediment supply is still huge, and so we must use this valuable resource efficiently and effectively.

River diversions are structures designed to mimic the natural pattern of deltaic land formation by reconnecting the river to the coastal system. The suitability of diversions for land building has been the subject of vigorous scientific and policy debate. However, not all diversions are designed to build land. Other uses include salinity control and flood control. The land-building capacity of a diversion is fundamentally dependent on the supply of sediment and retention, versus the “sink” factors of subsidence, sea-level rise, and compaction. If supply exceeds sink factors, then land will build. Sediment diversions, designed to maximize sediment delivery, are being proposed as potentially important tools for land-building in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain. Several current diversions show that such diversions can build land.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Samuel J. Bentley

  2. Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC, USA

    Angelina M. Freeman

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Water Institute of the Gulf, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Clinton S. Willson

  4. Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Morehead City, NC, USA

    Jaye E. Cable

  5. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Liviu Giosan

Authors
  1. Samuel J. Bentley
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  2. Angelina M. Freeman
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  3. Clinton S. Willson
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  4. Jaye E. Cable
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  5. Liviu Giosan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samuel J. Bentley .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

    John W. Day

  2. School of Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

    G. Paul Kemp

  3. Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Angelina M. Freeman

  4. Mississippi River Delta Restoration Camp, National Wildlife Federation, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

    David P. Muth

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Bentley, S., Freeman, A., Willson, C., Cable, J., Giosan, L. (2014). Using What We Have: Optimizing Sediment Management in Mississippi River Delta Restoration to Improve the Economic Viability of the Nation. In: Day, J., Kemp, G., Freeman, A., Muth, D. (eds) Perspectives on the Restoration of the Mississippi Delta. Estuaries of the World. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8733-8_6

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