Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Interactions Among Hydrology, Sediment And Vegetation In Accreting Wax Lake Delta: Physical And Biogeochemical Implications For Coastal Louisiana Restoration, Courtney Erin Elliton

LSU Master's Theses

River discharge pulses, wind, waves, tides, and the presence of dense vegetation are factors that interact and regulate the transport and retention of sediment in coastal regions. In particular, vegetation structural and physiognomic traits promote fine sediment trapping during tidal and river flow, maintaining the balance between soil elevation and relative sea level rise on coastline stability and land building. Mike Island, located within Wax Lake Delta, Louisiana, USA, is part of a deltaic system created by a man-made freshwater diversion (1941) and one of few coastal areas where land is expanding in coastal Louisiana as result of pulsing river …