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Sand as a stable and sustainable resource for nourishing the Mississippi River delta

Nature Geoscience volume 7, pages 350–354 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

The Mississippi River delta is undergoing a catastrophic drowning, whereby 5,000 km2 of low-lying wetlands have converted to open water over at least the past eight decades1, as a result of many anthropogenic and natural factors1,2,3. Continued net land loss has been thought inevitable due to a decline in the load of total suspended sediment—both sand and mud—carried by the river4. However, sand—which accounts for ~50–70% of modern and ancient Mississippi delta deposits5,6 but comprises only ~20% of the sampled portion of the total load3—could be more important than mud for subaerial delta growth5. Historically, half of the Mississippi River sediment load is supplied by the Missouri River3. Here we analyse suspended sediment load data from two locations downstream from the lowest Missouri River dam to show that the measured sand load in the lower 1,100 km of the Mississippi River has not significantly diminished since dam construction. A one-dimensional numerical model of river morphodynamics predicts that the sand load feeding the delta will decrease only gradually over the next several centuries, with an estimated decline from current values of no more than about 17% within the coming six centuries. We conclude that the lower Mississippi River channel holds a significant reservoir of sand that is available to replenish diminished loads via bed scour and substantially mitigate land loss.

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Figure 1: The Mississippi River drainage basin and the lower Mississippi River.
Figure 2: Sediment transport data from Thebes, Illinois, and Tarbert Landing, Mississippi.
Figure 3: Model results for sediment transport and channel-bed elevation for the lower Mississippi River.
Figure 4: Aerial image of the Mississippi River.

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Acknowledgements

This research represents a contribution to the Mississippi Wetlands restoration effort of the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics, a Science and Technology Center of the US National Science Foundation. We thank Gary Parker and Eric Prokocki for help and support. Brandon McElroy is also thanked for his support. We also thank Charlie Hager and Alex Nettles for helping organize the data from Thebes and Tarbert Landing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77251, USA

    Jeffrey A. Nittrouer

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA

    Enrica Viparelli

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  1. Jeffrey A. Nittrouer
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  2. Enrica Viparelli
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Contributions

J.A.N. processed the USGS data, constructed the model and was the lead author of the manuscript; E.V. processed the USGS data, constructed the model and provided significant editorial feedback on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jeffrey A. Nittrouer.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Nittrouer, J., Viparelli, E. Sand as a stable and sustainable resource for nourishing the Mississippi River delta. Nature Geosci 7, 350–354 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2142

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