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Mississippi Delta: Chapter G in Emergent wetlands status and trends in the northern Gulf of Mexico: 1950-2010

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Abstract

The Mississippi River Delta, the tip of the longest river in North America, is located in the coastal plains of southeastern Louisiana. The study area included in the Mississippi River Delta vignette of southeastern Louisiana follows the Mississippi River southward from Port Sulphur within the modern Plaquemines-Balize Delta lobe (Figure 1). It extends eastward through Long Bay into California Bay and then encapsulates most of the land to the east of the river; it extends south into Lake Washington and Lake Robinson, then to the Gulf of Mexico, and includes the land to the west of the river. All of this area is within Plaquemines Parish. The mouth of the Mississippi includes four subdeltas (West Bay, Cubit’s Gap, Baptiste Collette, and Garden Island Bay) which began formation between 1839 and 1891 (Coleman and others, 1998). As of 2010, the total land area from Venice, LA to the gulf was 357.50 square km (138.03 square miles) and had ranged from 208.08 square km (80.34 square miles) to 393.70 square km (152.01 square miles) since 1973 (Couvillion and others, 2011).

Suggested Citation

Lawrence Handley, Spear, K.A., Zapletal, M., Thatcher, C.A., Jones, W.R., Wilson, S.A., 2018, Mississippi Delta: Chapter G in Emergent wetlands status and trends in the northern Gulf of Mexico: 1950-2010, 19 p.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype Other Government Series
Title Mississippi Delta: Chapter G in Emergent wetlands status and trends in the northern Gulf of Mexico: 1950-2010
Chapter G
Year Published 2018
Language English
Contributing office(s) Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Description 19 p.
Larger Work Title Emergent Wetlands Status and Trends in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: 1950-2010 report
First page 1
Last page 19
Country United States
State Louisiana
Other Geospatial Mississippi River Delta
Additional publication details