Annotated Bibliography
Mission 2010
Nick Joliat

Brown, A. V., et al. "Lower Mississippi and its Tributaries: Lower Mississippi River." Benke, A. C., Cushing, C. E., ed. (2005) Rivers of North America, 237-246. Boston: Elsevier Academic Press.

This chapter includes a description of the physiography of the Lower Mississippi River, and the land surrounding it. The entire area around the Mississippi is described as a low-lying plain that formed from alluvial deposits as much as 60 million years ago. It also explores the flow of water through the river and its tributaries, and the chemical properties of the water. It concludes with a report of the impact of human activity on the river.

Coleman, J. M., & Roberts, H. H. (1990). Shapes and sizes of reservoir sand bodies; a bird's eye view of modern mississippi delta; gulf coast association of geological societies and gulf coast section of SEPM meeting; abstracts. AAPG Bulletin, 74(9), 1492.

This is a study of the different shapes and sizes of delta formations and what causes them, in the Mississippi river delta. One focus is the relationship between the size of delta formations and their composition. Fine-grained sediment would generally form delta-front deposits of 100m thick, whereas coarser sediment can create deposits with variable thickness from 10-80m.

Costanza, R., et al. (2006) Creating a Sustainable and Desirable New Orleans. Ecological Engineering, 26(4), 317-320.

The report discusses what went wrong in New Orleans in 2005, and how the city can be rebuilt. It addresses the loss of wetlands as a major problem, because wetlands provide flood protection, and prevent the land from subsiding as rapidly. The scientists propose that the city be rebuilt largely above sea level, and that the Mississippi river be allowed to flow unrestricted into the wetlands, to prevent the latter’s disappearance.

Dean, C. (2006, September 19). Time to Move the Mississippi, Experts Say. The New York Times.

This article discusses the new attention that is being given to the prospect of diverting the Mississippi River. The idea has been discussed previously, but in a summit meeting in April, scientists unanimously recommended it. The benefits are that it would restore the shrinking coastal wetland by depositing sediment there, and allowing it to flow freely would make the New Orleans area safer in light of future flooding possibilities. The deposition of sediment in the wetlands would prevent further buildup in the river bed, which causes the water to rise to dangerous higher levels.

Finkl, C. W., et al. (2006) Fluvial Sand Sources for Barrier Island Restoration in Louisiana: Geotechnical Investigations in the Mississippi River. Journal of Coastal Research, 20, 773-787.

This study looks at several methods to restore the disappearing wetlands on the coast of Louisiana, around the Mississippi River delta. In addition to diverting sediment-rich flow from the Mississippi, they explore the possibility of “borrowing” sand from other places on the coast. The scientists conclude at the end that the latter strategy would not be worthwhile, because not enough material is available to transplant; they favor the strategy of diverting the river’s flow.

Frazier, D. E. (1967). Recent Deltaic Deposits of the Mississippi: Their Development and Chronology. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions of the 17th Annual Meeting, 287-311.

This study explores the formation of the Mississippi River delta. The researchers looked at sixteen lobes that have been formed in the past 6,000 years. They extracted cores of sediment from the delta deposits for radiocarbon dating. The results for the age of different materials implied that delta lobes were made consecutively, one at a time, as the river shifted its course and entered the Gulf of Mexico in varying locations.

Gagliano, S. M., van Beek, J. L. (1973). Environmental Management in the Mississippi Delta System. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, Transactions of the 23rd Annual Convention, 203-209.

The authors of this study introduce the problem that the coastal lowlands of Louisiana are a product of the Mississippi river’s delta system, and that human intervention with the river and wetlands are harming the ecosystem. The study proposes a plan for maintaining the delta system while still allowing for human development; this includes protection of barrier island and reef areas, and marshes; maintenance of fresh water basins as renewable resources for fishing and forestry, and management of surface water. Although this study focuses on protection of the delta system because of its ecological importance, rather than its capacity to protect against natural disasters, it usefully enumerates many ways in which human activity damages the delta systems.

Gyan Jr., J. (2006, June 2) Experts: Redirect river *** New channels could replenish vanishing wetland. The Advocate, pp. A01.

The article is about a group of scientists, who have recommended diverting part of the river’s flow, to direct the water to replenish wetlands. They have suggested creating one or more channels off of the river, as opposed to diverting all of the flow. In the current situation, essentially all the sediment falls off the edge of the continental shelf, and so does not help with building wetlands; if the water were diverted, the sediment would not be wasted.

Julien, P. Y. (2002) River Mechanics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

This is a textbook intended for graduate-level river mechanics. It includes engineering principles and analysis, related to river equilibrium, river dynamics, and bank stabilization. It also deals with natural phenomena, such as floods.

Kolb, C. R. (1962). Distribution and engineering significance of soils bordering the Mississippi from Donaldsonville to the gulf. (Doctoral, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States (USA)).

In this study, the scientists explore the soil properties along a 189-mile stretch of the Mississippi from Donaldsville to the Gulf of Mexico. Discoveries include the existence of a shelf of Pleistocene deposits beneath the river, a trend toward decreasing sediment grain size with depth, and a much greater tendency for migration in the last 30 miles before the river hits the Gulf.

Lambrecht, Bill. (2005, August 31) Flooding in Katrina’s aftermath offers vital lessons, experts say. The Tribune.

This article discusses the reasons Hurricane Katrina became such a disaster. One reason cited is that the Mississippi river is so restricted it cannot deposit sediment on the flood plain, or at the wetlands. Another is that global warming has probably also raised the temperature in the ocean by 1 degree Fahrenheit, making storms more severe because of the extra energy.

Lutton, R. J. (2006). Past valley widening and recent creep beside the lower mississippi valley. Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, 12(1), 13-24.

This is an analysis of the reasons behind the widening of the Lower Mississippi River valley. Possible reasons for this phenomenon are presented in the conclusion: inward creep, block displacement, and plastic deformation. The researchers indicate that similar phenomena may take place in other systems of clay-rich soil.

Mississippi river.http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/SNT/noframe/ms137.html

This is a government website affiliated with the U. S. Geological Survey. It provides general facts about the river, and a detailed history in terms of geology, geography, and human interaction. It also includes information about recent damage to the wetlands at the delta, and an extensive report on the plant and animal life in and around the river.

Nakato, T. (1981). Sediment-budget study for the upper mississippi river, GREAT II reach (21, Hydrogeology No. AD-A100 746/7; IIHR-227). United States (USA):

This report is on a study carried out between Gutenberg, Iowa, and Saverton, Mississippi. Scientists analyzed the flow of sediment in and out of each pool, and then calculated the average deposition for each area.

Olariu, C. (2006) Terminal Distributary Channels and Delta Front Architecture of River-Dominated Delta Systems. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 76(2), 212-233.

This report discusses different shapes of delta formations, and how they relate to the river that feeds into them. Systems like the Mississippi delta, with one single large river feeding the delta, have a completely different shape than those with many smaller distributaries.

Roberts, D. W., van Beek, J. L., & Fournet, S. (1992). Abatement of wetland loss in louisiana through diversions of mississippi river water using siphons (22 Environmental geology; 21 Hydrogeology No. OF 92-0274). United States (USA):

The experiment in this report is related to the siphoning off of the Mississippi River. In the experiment, a portion of the sediment-laden upper level of the water column was siphoned to a different course, towards wetlands. The sediment deposition was measured, and compared to a control site. The goal of the study was to find a way to restore the wetlands, which are disappearing in part because of a lack of sediment deposition.

Rowland, J. C., Lepper, K., Dietrich, W. E., Wilson, C. J., & Sheldon, R. (2005). Tie channel sedimentation rates, oxbow formation age and channel migration rate from optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) analysis of floodplain deposits; quantifying rates and timescales of geomorphic processes; part 2. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 30(9), 1161-1179.

These researchers dated samples of sediment deposited in tie channels of oxbow lakes along the Mississippi river, the former being the thin channels that remain linking a newly formed oxbow lake to the river, and through which water and sediment travel. Data tables display the results: the change in depth and rate of accretion with relation to time, over as much as 1000 years. The report also points to the significance that the rate of tie channel formation may be related to changes in the size and shape of the corresponding portion of the river.

Studies of River Bed Materials and their Movement, with Special Reference to the Lower Mississippi River. War Dept. Army Corps of Engineers.

This book presents two studies by the Army Corps of Engineers, which begun in 1932. The overall goal is to examine how much force of flowing water is required to move the sediment on the bed of the Mississippi. In the first part, water is run through a flume in ten different experiments: nine with different mixtures of sand and gravel, and one with plain cement. The three main variables are the nature of the mixture, the slope of the flume, and the depth of water in the flume. They display the results on many slides, and present an equation for the motion of the sediment in terms of the depth, slope, and roughness of the flume. In the second part, the compositions of the mixtures on the riverbed are described in relation to the location along the river from Cairo to New Orleans, with a definite pattern evident: near Cairo, 50% of the material is coarse sand and gravel, and only a small percentage is silt and clay. At New Orleans, nearly all the mixture is made up of fine silt, sand and clay. The researchers make it clear in the conclusion that their study should not be considered comprehensive, and should be preliminary to much more extensive future work.

Walker, H. J. (1987) Wetland Loss in Louisiana. Physical Geography, 69(1), 189-200.

This study explores numerous reasons for the decline of wetlands in Louisiana; geologic, catastrophic, and physical natural phenomena, as well as human interaction. It draws conclusions from observed change in the wetlands’ size and shape over time, in relation to the other quantities. At the conclusion, a ranking system is proposed for the ten most important physical phenomena with relation to the loss of wetlands.

Yalin, M.S. (1992) River Mechanics. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.

This is another graduate-level river mechanics textbook. Its focus is on rivers flowing through alluvium, and the applications of hydraulic engineering, geomorphology, and physical geography.


centrifugal force > Phil Engel

Massachusetts Institute of Technology