Post-Katrina Rebuilding? Mississippi Delta Both Spongy And Stable

Törnqvist’s findings have implications for the post-Katrina rebuilding of Louisiana. For example, the large flood-control structures under consideration can be more stable than previously believed, provided that foundations penetrate entirely through the soft shallow deposits.

Other recent studies have argued that much of the subsidence in coastal Louisiana is the result of processes much deeper in the Earth’s crust, but the new findings show that most of the subsidence as measured at the land surface is likely due to the spongy nature of the shallowest few hundred feet or less.

The high rate of subsidence and resulting high rates of rising sea level that characterize much of the Mississippi Delta are due mainly to compaction of the shallowest deposits that accumulated in the past 10,000 years, according to Törnqvist.

“Compaction is essentially the process that squeezes water out of sediment, which leads to a rapid decrease in volume and accelerates subsidence of the land surface,” Törnqvist says. “Previous studies had inferred that compaction must be an important contributor to long-term subsidence in coastal Louisiana, but this is the first time that this has been demonstrated directly.”

The new results could also help determine the effect of coastal restoration projects such as plans to divert water and sediment from the Mississippi River into regions that have experienced wetland loss in the past century. The question is whether the weight of newly deposited sediment from diversion projects will actually accelerate compaction and subsidence.

“Even if it is partially offset by additional sinking land, the diversion projects are still very much worth pursuing,” Törnqvist says. “But it is important that we understand as much as possible about the shallow subsurface so we can predict the effects of our actions.”

This research was published Feb. 17 in the journal Nature Geoscience.