NO PRESENTATION AVAILABLE
Y. Jun Xu yjxu@lsu.edu
School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Abstract
The Atchafalaya River pours 197 cubic kilometers of water into the Gulf of Mexico each year, representing over 20% of the total freshwater inflow to the world’s ninth largest ocean from the U.S. continent. This principle, 220‐km‐long distributary of the Mississippi River is confined by levees on its east and west sides, encompassing a 4,678 square‐kilometer basin with bayous, canals, lakes, backwater swamps, and bottomland forests. The water level within the swamp river basin can fluctuate as much as 6 meters on a yearly basis, creating a fundamental domain for hydrologic connectivity, flood pulses, and nutrient and sediment transports in the Atchafalaya. Despite intensive research during the past two decades, hydrology and hydrologic influences in this large floodplain system remain poorly understood and efforts to improve the basin’s water quality have not met with a great deal of success. For instance, although sedimentation from the Mississippi siltrich water has been attributed to the detrimental effects in the river‐floodplain connectivity, water quality and aquatic habitat conditions, it is largely unknown how much sediment actually is retained in the basin each year. This paper presents recent studies on long‐term (1978‐2004) riverine inflows and outflows of water, carbon, nutrient, and sediment in the Atchafalaya, and discusses what management options are available, ecologically beneficial to both the Atchafalaya River Basin and the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
|