scholarly journals Large freshwater and sediment impoundments between the Mississippi River and the Louisiana coastline

2015 ◽  
Vol 367 ◽  
pp. 429-434
Author(s):  
G. R. Andersen ◽  
B. Hall ◽  
E. M. Aieta
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
Salt Water ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
System Level ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Salt Water Intrusion ◽  
Innovative System ◽  
Freshwater Management ◽  
Maintenance Dredging

Abstract. An innovative system-level sediment and freshwater management plan is proposed for the coastal regions of Louisiana, USA. It involves the construction of large sediment and freshwater impoundments between the river and coastline fed periodically through large spillway structures during the rising hydrograph of the river when the highest concentration of sediment is in the water column. Sediment directing and trapping technologies are proposed for the river channel and spillways to capture the coarser-grained sediments. The embankments can be constructed from dredging and then enlarged by land-based harvesting of coarse-grained sediments from the traps. These impoundments will permit the continuous introduction of freshwater and finer-grained sediments to coastal marshlands for vegetation, land augmentation, protection from storm surges and salt water intrusion, while removing large amounts of sand from the river and decreasing annual maintenance dredging costs.

The BP Oil Spill and the Bounty of Plaquemines Parish

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
randy fertel
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Salt Water ◽  
Salt Water Intrusion ◽  
Bp Oil Spill ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Mineral Wealth ◽  
Plant Life ◽  
The World

The source of 25 to 30 percent of America’s seafood, the Mississippi River Delta’s cornucopian world is now uncertain. And yet, even if shrimp, oysters, and finfish are unaffected by the BP Oil Spill—a big if—one can already reflect on the passing of the culture once built upon gathering them. For almost three centuries, levees made life possible along the riverbanks and in the wetlands beyond. Those same levees also ensured the wetlands would eventually melt away into the Gulf. Cutting off the silt left behind during annual river inundations subjected the fragile land to erosion. Sulfur, natural gas, and oil production companies dug twenty thousand miles of canals to gain more direct routes to their fields and to pump out their mineral wealth. This caused salt-water intrusion that killed off plant life and caused more erosion. The world that sustained my Plaquemines ancestors was less subject to collapse following disasters not only because the ecosystem before the wetlands’ ongoing loss was then more vibrant, complex, and robust; but also because their lives, especially their culinary lives, were more vibrant, complex, and robust. Life was hard, but when it came to putting food on the table, life followed the seasons.

Approximation for Salt-Water Intrusion in Unconfined Coastal Aquifer

Ground Water ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. K. Panigrahi ◽  
A. Das Gupta ◽  
A. Arbhabhirama
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Aquifer ◽  
Salt Water ◽  
Salt Water Intrusion ◽  
Water Intrusion

scholarly journals GIS analysis of effects of future Baltic Sea level rise on the island of Gotland, Sweden

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Ebert ◽  
Karin Ekstedt ◽  
Jerker Jarsjö
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Coastal Aquifers ◽  
Salt Water ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Salt Water Intrusion ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Water Intrusion ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract. Future sea level rise as a consequence of global warming will affect the world's coastal regions. Even though the pace of sea level rise is not clear, the consequences will be severe and global. Commonly the effects of future sea level rise are investigated for relatively vulnerable development countries; however, a whole range of varying regions need to be considered in order to improve the understanding of global consequences. In this paper we investigate consequences of future sea level rise along the coast of the Baltic Sea island of Gotland, Sweden, with the aim to fill knowledge gaps regarding comparatively well-suited areas in non-development countries. We study both the quantity of loss of infrastructure, cultural and natural values for the case of a two metre sea level rise of the Baltic Sea, and the effects of climate change on seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers, causing the indirect effect of salt water intrusion in wells. We conduct a multi-criteria risk analysis by using Lidar data on land elevation and GIS-vulnerability mapping, which gives formerly unimaginable precision in the application of distance and elevation parameters. We find that in case of a 2 m sea level rise, 3 % of the land area of Gotland, corresponding to 99 km2, will be inundated. The features most strongly affected are items of touristic or nature values, including camping places, shore meadows, sea stack areas, and endangered plants and species habitats. In total, 231 out of 7354 wells will be directly inundated, and the number of wells in the high-risk zone for saltwater intrusion in wells will increase considerably. Some values will be irreversibly lost due to e.g. inundation of sea stacks and the passing of tipping points for sea water intrusion into coastal aquifers; others might simply be moved further inland, but this requires considerable economic means and prioritization. With nature tourism being one of the main income sources of Gotland, monitoring and planning is required to meet the changes. Seeing Gotland in a global perspective, this island shows that holistic multi-feature studies of future consequences of sea level rise are required, to identify overall consequences for individual regions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document