Subsidence in the Mississippi Delta

by Chris McLindon
Kolb and Van Lopik, 1966
Curtis, 1970
Holocene Deltas (6,000 ybp present)
Miocene Deltas (13 11 mmybp)
For at least the past 50 million years the
fundamental interconnection between the Gulf of
Mexico Basin and the Mississippi River has been
based on the ability of the basin to accept the
sedimentary load delivered by the river. The late
Holocene deltas that deposited the substrate of the
coastal wetlands now at the surface are only the
latest in a succession of historical deltas that has
been continuous throughout that time span. These
are shown in comparison with deltas of the
Miocene Epoch that were deposited in what is now
the south Louisiana coastal zone over 10 million
years ago

Each delta has represented the terminus of a river
system that carried the erosional detritus from the
North American Continent. The balance between
river and basin is the accommodation capacity of
the basin to accept the sedimentary load delivered
by the river. That balance is determined by the
subsidence of the basin. Geologic processes drive
the engine of subsidence, and as their activity
varies across the surface of the coastal plain, the
river moves back and forth always seeking
accommodation capacity for its delta. It is the
engine of subsidence that ultimately determines
how the patterns of delta-switching and land area
change at the surface are played out across the
coastal plain.
Geohistory diagram
Geohistory diagram
Nelson, E.J. et.al., 2000, Timing of Source Rock Maturation in the
Northern Gulf of Mexico Basin: Results of Thermal Modeling of a Regional
Profile, GCAGS Transactions, v 50, p. 309-323
This is a geohistory diagram for a point in the
central Louisiana coastal plain in Lafourche Parish
(location indicated by a red dot on the delta maps
of the previous slide). The axes of the graph are
time in millions of years on the horizonal and depth
in feet on the vertical. The lines crossing the body
of the diagram track the depth history of
sedimentary layers indicated by their age on the
right end of the diagram (at time 0, or the present).
In theory if a well were drilled at this location, it
would encounter sediments of the ages indicated
along the right column at the depths indicated.

All of the lines within the body of the diagram slope
from left to right indicating that the depth of any
horizon always increases with time. In other words
every horizon has been continually subsiding since
the time of its deposition. The red line in the upper
right corner tracks the history of the Miocene
detlas on the previous slide. The slope of the line
is the rate of subsidence. This point on the
Louisiana coastal plain has been continuously
subsiding for millions of years.
Recent Deltatic Deposits of the Mississippi River:
Their development and chronology David E. Frazier, 1967
6 2 1 0 5
Thousand Years Before Present
4 3
The construction of the modern wetlands of coastal Louisiana also record a
history of subsidence that is a vital component of the delta cycle by the
Mississippi spreads its sedimentary load back and forth across the coastal
plain. David Frazier used an extensive collection of core samples from
across the coast to reconstruct the history of the Holocene deltas. He
numbered each delta, and the graph to the left show the lifespan of each of
those deltas from 1 to 16. At the end of the lifespan of each delta, it is
abandoned by a change in course of the river, and becomes subject to the
forces of subsidence. Most of these recent deltas of the Mississippi have
subsided below the surface and are preserved as sedimentary layers.
5,500
years before present
6 2 1 0 5
Thousand Years Before Present
4 3
1
This and the following sequence of slides capture snapshots of what
the Louisiana coastline probably looked like at the time indicated in the
upper right corner. The red dashed line on the graph to the left shows
the deltas that were active at that time. 5,500 years ago the area that
is now New Orleans was covered by open water and a chain of barrier
islands that extended form those of the Mississippi gulf coast. The
Mississippi was building the first of Fraziers deltas to the west.

Otvos, E.G., et.al., 2004, Interlinked barrier island chain and delta lobe
development, northern Gulf of Mexico, Sedimentary Geology., v. 169, p. 47-73
Pine Islands
4,500
years before present
2
3
Fraziers Delta #3 was the first incursion of the Mississippi River to the
eastern part of the coastal plain in the late Holocene about 4,500 years ago.
It appears to have cut a fairly straight path across the shallow waters that
covered the area at the time. The area of the French Quarter and the West
Bank would have probably been cypress swamps. This course of the river
was used over and over again throughout the Holocene, as it is used by the
most recent course of the river. Delta #3 has entirely subsided below the
surface and today is found at depths of about 30 feet below sea level.
6 2 1 0 5
Thousand Years Before Present
4 3
3,500
years before present
6 2 1 0 5
Thousand Years Before Present
4 3
6
4
5
7
Within the 1,000 year period between 4,500 and 3,500 years ago four
delta systems were active across the coastal plain. The river switched
back and forth depositing sediment to build up the coastal wetlands. The
outer fringes of deltas 4 and 6 have now subsided below the surface. In
this natural system a no net loss of wetlands cover was maintained
because every acre of wetlands that subsided below the surface in one
area was matched by an acre of newly created wetlands at the site of the
active delta. The channel of the river that fed delta 5 ran along the front of
the barrier island chain, and it forms the backbone of the Metairie and
Gentilly ridges that are highpoints of elevation in the metro area.
3,500
years before present
6 2 1 0 5
Thousand Years Before Present
4 3
6
4
5
7
The inset photograph is profile of the subsurface from a pit dug off Bullard
Road in New Orleans East. It clearly captures the superposition of
Mississippi delta deposits on the white sands of the barrier island. Most of
the marsh at the surface today around New Orleans was deposited by
delta 5, and this is a cross section of those deposits. Subsequent river
channels continued to provide sediment by overbank flooding until the
construction of levees beginning in the 19
th
century. The thickness of the
delta deposits (labeled B) shows that subsidence was active in the area
even 4,000 years ago. The islands sunk below the surface and the delta
built across them.
2,500
years before present
6 2 1 0 5
Thousand Years Before Present
4 3
6
7
9
8
Bayou Jasmine Archeological Site
ca. 800 BC
By 2,500 years ago the marshes created by deltas 6 and 7 were
subsiding below the surface and deltas 8 and 9 had built a vast
expanse of wetlands across what are now Breton and Chandeleur
Sounds. Archeological sites in the area strongly suggest that this
complex ecological system of cypress swamps and fresh and saline
marshes was inhabited by native people. This vast ecosystem
succumbed to subsidence over the next few hundred years. The
cypress swamps were drowned and died off and the marshes went
through a natural progression from freshwater to brackish to saline, and
finally to open water bays as the subsided below the surface.
Outer Islands
2,500
years before present
6 2 1 0 5
Thousand Years Before Present
4 3
6
7
9
8
The red line across delta 9 shows the location of a cross section
constructed by David Frazier from cores taken in the sediments at the
bottom of Breton Sound. These sediments are the deposits of delta 9
that extended across the area between 2,500 and 1,900 years ago.
The cores found an in situ cypress stump that was a part of the vast
cypress swamp that covered the delta. The stump was age-dated to
2,100 years old, and it is now 33 feet below sea level. This is a direct
measurement of the rate of subsidence that submerged this delta
system, and its about the same rate of subsidence that is measured at
the surface in parts of the Central Wetlands Unit today.
Outer Islands
Breton Sound
33 of subsidence in 2,100 years
Rogers, et.al. used cores and sparker profiles to study the history
of the St. Bernard Delta (Fraziers #8 and #9 deltas. The delta
complex fed by Bayou LaLoutre is strikingly similar in size and
shape to the modern birdfoot delta. Rogers work indicated that
it subsided below the surface in about 300 years. The modern
delta is about 200 years old, and it likely to subside below the
surface by the end of this century.

Rogers, B.E. et.al., 2009, Late Holocene chronology, origin, and evolution
of the St. Bernard Shoals, Northern Gulf of Mexico, USA, GeoMarine
Letters, v.29, p. 379394
320 mm = 12.5 inches
subsidence in 50 years
= 0.25 in/year


BLUM & ROBERTS, 2011
Grand Isle Tidal Gauge normalized to Pensacola
The subsidence of the coastal wetlands of Louisiana can be observed several in several ways. The one that lends
itself to the most direct measurement is the comparison of apparent sea level rise between historical tidal gauges
across the Gulf Coast. The graphs at the right are tidal gauge records from Pensacola, Florida and Grand Isle,
Louisiana. Pensacola sits on the backbone of the Appalachian Mountain Chain, and is generally accepted to have
experienced no subsidence over the past century. The graph on the left shows that the Pensacola tidal gauge
record closely mirrors the accepted global mean sea level rise curve. The curve for Grand Isle is markedly
different, and the difference can be used to measure subsidence. The subsidence measured by this method at
Grand Isle is about 0.25 inches/year, which is very close to the value inferred by the depth of burial of the cypress
stump in Breton Sound indicated that these rates have been continuous for at least 2,000 years.
The effects of subsidence are most obviously manifested by the submergence of the coastal wetlands over the past 80
years. The ability to measure land area change, or wetlands loss, is strictly a function of the availability of aerial
photography. The first aerial surveys were shot in this area in the early 1930s, and all measurements are made from
this baseline. An examination of the historical holocene deltas of the Mississippi River shows that thousands of square
miles of wetlands had already subsided below the surface before then. The distribution of wetlands loss across the
plain shows an obvious pattern of hot spots where subsidence is most active. These areas can be directly tied to the
activity of major fault systems at the surface. These are the same geologic mechanisms that have been driving
subsidence of the coastal plain since the deposition of the Miocene deltas.

Couvillion, B.R.,et.al, 2011, Land area change in coastal Louisiana from 1932 to 2010: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific
Investigations Map 3164, scale 1:265,000, 12 p. pamphlet.

Surface Fault Traces
Land Loss in Southeast Louisiana

The activity of the major faults at the surface of the coastal plain is obvious in its effect on the marshes. The
movement of the faults rotates the marsh surface inducing a slope toward the inland trace of the fault. This change in
slope allows for the flow of saltwater into the interior freshwater marsh, which changes the hydrology of the coastal
marshes. The subsiding areas along the fault traces follow a succession of hydrologic changes that ends with the
marsh drowning and converting to open water. These are likely the same processes by which the expansive St
Bernard Delta, that was covered with cypress swamps, progressively converted to open water.

The next two slides examine the measurable effects of subsidence in the area around the city of New Orleans, which
is affected by the activity of surface faults that cross the East New Orleans Land Bridge.
Surface Fault Traces
This is the subsidence map of Dixon, 2006 with the patterns showing areas of relatively high rates of subsidence color-
filled in orange and red. These color-filled areas are used on the next slide to draw conclusions about the relationship
between the principal geologic features of the subsurface in this area, and the rates of subsidence that are being
experienced at the surface.

Dixon, T.H., 2006, Subsidence and flooding in New Orleans, Nature, v. 441, p. 587-588
< 20 mm/yr
Fort Proctor stands as a measurable documentation of the effects of subsidence. The fort was constructed at Proctor
Landing on the shore of Lake Borgne in 1865, but never used. Historical documents show the fort was positioned 150
from the shoreline, and based on comparison with other forts around the Gulf, it was almost certainly at least five above
sea level at the time of construction. The fort is now in Lake Borgne, and the foundation is about four feet below sea
level. The implied rate of subsidence is very similar to the values measured in 2006 by Dixon.
Dixon Area of Maximum
Subsidence ~ 0.8 in/yr
Fort Proctor
The following sequence of three slides shows the effects of subsidence in coastal Louisiana over the course of te
rest of this century. These images were a part of numerous presentations by Dr. Roy Dokka, and LSU geology
professor prior to his untimely death in 2011. The images were created by the LSU Center for Geoinformatics.
They show the areas of coastal Louisiana that were below sea level in 2010 and projections for 2050 and 2100.
The striking increase in the area of south Louisiana that will be below sea level over the course of this century is
due entirely to the effects of subsidence. This subsidence is being driven by the same mechanisms that have
been in effect across this area for millions of years. There are deposits of the ancient Mississippi River delta that
are now three miles below the surface of coastal Louisiana. These deposits were subsided by the same
mechanisms that have submerged the historical delta deposits of the past 6,000 years.

The mechanisms of subsidence affecting coastal Louisiana are as fundamental as the movement of the crustal
plates and as simple as the compaction of surface sediments. Taken together these mechanisms produce an
unrelenting effect at the surface that cannot be reversed or even meaningfully offset by the actions of humans.
The Effects of Subsidence in Coastal Louisiana
The Effects of Subsidence in Coastal Louisiana
The Effects of Subsidence in Coastal Louisiana
The Effects of Subsidence in Coastal Louisiana
The subsidence of the Mississippi River Delta and the Louisiana coastal plain has been active and ongoing for
millions of years. The deltas deposits of the Mississippi from 10 to 15 million years ago have now subsided to
depths between one and three miles below the surface. The Holocene of the Mississippi River built up the
modern coastal wetlands by the progression of a delta cycle in which subsidence of the abandoned delta is an
equally important component to the aggradation of the new one. Delta deposits from the construction of these
wetlands over the past 6,000 years are now buried as deep as 35 feet below sea level. The sampling of a buried
cypress stump from a swamp of the former St. Bernard Delta indicates a subsidence rate of about 0.2 inches per
year over 2,100 years. This rate is very consistent with the subsidence rate measured by the comparison of
historical tidal gauge records at Grand Isle. Similarly the rates of subsidence measured by Dixon using GPS
technology around New Orleans are consistent with an inferred rate of subsidence that would be necessary to
leave Fort Proctor in its current state of submergence in Lake Borgne.

Subsidence is and has always been active on the coastal plain. There is no necessity to invoke any
anthropogenic mechanisms to explain it, and by the same measure the effects of subsidence fully explain the
rate and patterns of land loss in the coastal plain.
This slide show was produced by Chris McLindon.
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