Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Geochronological And Stratigraphic Reconstruction Of The Middle Barataria Bay Receiving Basin, Joseph Ethan Thomas Hughes

LSU Master's Theses

Barataria Bay, one of the largest receiving basins for the Mississippi deltaic complex, is the location of a proposed river-sediment diversion for delta restoration. In order to determine how the sediment in the receiving-basin may respond to diversion flows, twenty-five sediment vibracores were collected from a 115 km2 study area located near Myrtle Grove and Bayou Dupont, southeast of New Orleans, LA. These cores were subject to multiple tests, including gamma bulk density scans, grain size analysis, and loss-on-ignition, in order to identify the lithology and stratigraphy. In addition, 137Cs and 14C dating techniques were employed in order to construct …