Louisiana River Research Paper

Using scientific prose, Barry reveals his deep interest in the unusual physical properties of the river. Its natural characteristics are what sets it apart; the Mississippi does not conform to standards set by other rivers. Instead, it exceeds most major rivers in variation, depth, and volume. In fact, the Mississippi is so outstanding that “theories and techniques that apply to other rivers … simply do not work on the lower Mississippi” (Barry 25-28). Looking beyond its external features, the river also contains an intricate internal system unlike any other. In addition to the complicated internal circumstances that normally occur within rivers, the Mississippi also stands out because of its “size, its sediment load, its depth, variations in its bottom” and “its ability to cave in the riverbank and slide sideways for miles” (Barry 20-23). As he describes the unusual corporeal aspects of the Mississippi, Barry brings to light his own wonder in the face of such a daunting natural force. Characterizing the river with its physical properties allows

Flooding of the settlement was problematic. By 1812, the settlers had built miles of levees on the banks of the river. For the next two hundred years, the surrounding wetlands were drained to eliminate swamps filled with yellow fever carrying mosquitoes and to encourage economic development. Draining water from peaty soils encouraged subsidence. The land which was just inches above sea level to begin with steadily sank. In combat of this, higher and stronger levees were built, tightening the straight jacket already placed upon the Mississippi River. The massive flooding of 1928 brought further flood control systems implemented by the Army Corps of Engineers with Congressional blessing. By the 1950’s, dramatic rates of land loss in Louisiana’s coastal zone stretched across 300 miles from Texas to Mississippi and inland 50 miles. (Tibbetts)

The characteristic warming climate of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene resulted in rising sea levels which contributed to the formation of the various deltas in the New Orleans area (Dunbar, Britsch, 2008). The natural formation of these deltas produced coastal wetlands that represent 30% of coastal wetlands currently in the United States (Cigler, 2007). In addition to these wetlands, the Mississippi River was surrounded by substantial forest growth (Pabis, 1998).

The Old River flows from the Mississippi to the Atchafalaya River. To regulate this flow, the Old River is dammed by the Old River Control Structure, which is an effort by the Army Corps to keep the Mississippi River from giving most of its water to the Atchafalaya River. If that were to occur, Morgan City (a town of 12,000 that sits on the banks of the Atchafalaya River) would be underwater and New Orleans would lose its most vital asset in the Mississippi River. To New Orleans, the Mississippi River means financial success, as New Orleans is a transportation hub. Baton Rouge, the state capital of Louisiana, also sits on the banks of the Mississippi River. Baton Rouge originally had an economy based on natural gas, to which the river was vital in a transportation aspect. Now, the state capital has an economy with many different sectors. Marucci Sports, best known for making baseball bats, calls Baton Rouge home. The Atchafalaya River would struggle to support economies that require transportation like the Mississippi River, as it doesn’t run the length of the United States. The Atchafalaya River is 137 miles long, compared to the Mississippi’s 2,320 miles, running from where the Red River and Old River meet all the way to the Atchafalaya Bay. The Atchafalaya Bay is connected directly to the Gulf of Mexico, which differs from the Mississippi River’s situation

It's not actually a silly question. The Mississippi no longer fits the definition a river as "a natural watercourse flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river." Rather, the waterway has been shaped in many ways, big and small, to suit human needs. While it maybe not be tamed, it's far from wild -- and understanding the floods that are expected to crest in Louisiana soon means understanding dams, levees, and control structures as much as rain, climate, and geography. From almost the moment in the early 18th century when the French started to build New Orleans, settlers built levees, and in so doing, entered into a complex geoclimatic relationship with about 41 percent of the United

To put the tale into proper prospective, the Mississippi Basin Flood of 1993 carried 435,000 cubic feet of water per second past Iowa and one million cubic feet per second past St. Louis after the contribution from the Missouri River. The Great Flood

“If the United States had not purchased the Louisiana Territory and won the Western Lands from Mexico in the Mexican American War, our nation would be a very different place.” Firstly, if we wouldn’t have purchased the Louisiana Territory we would probably not have all the land that we have today in the United States. Secondly, in my opinion if it wasn’t for Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and all the Native Americans the exploration could have been very different from what it was. Also, Meriwether Lewis led the expedition and William Clark was to co-lead the expedition with Lewis. The Louisiana Territory was a good move for the U.S. because it doubled the size of the United States!

Repeated events, highlighted by the flood of 1993 and the fallout of Katrina, continues to illustrate the US Army Corps of Engineers’ failure in strengthening flood control up and down the Mississippi, including the redesign and upgrading levees. America is a product of this constant struggle in dominating nature using science and reason.

On August 12, the Americans of Louisiana woke up with water in their houses. A week passed, and now thousands evacuated the flooded regions around Baton Rouge. 40,000 homes were ravaged, and several were found deceased. People were stranded on highways and rooftops, trapped in deep waters infested with rodents and snakes, and floating through the destruction onto mattresses. The state has been declared a disaster area. However, national media seems entirely uninterested with this flooding - after all, it was not the first time Lousiana had to endure through a natural disaster. A multitude of critics advocated for the abandonment of Louisiana. Because Louisiana is prone to natural occurrences due to its location, critics believe that it is wholly pointless to rebuild a state that is always sinking. However, the abandonment of Louisiana would result in the movement of all the

The Battle of Lake Champlain was an important victory because it created a dent in the British plan to invade from the North and it ultimately convinced the British to surrender the War of 1812, which caused the US to gain worldwide respect. To begin, the British had been trying to invade America from the south, but they had very little success. They then decided to try and invade from the North, using Plattsburg, a city on the shores of Lake Champlain, as their headquarters for the invasion. This is why it was so vital that the US won the Battle of Lake Champlain because it hurt the British plan to invade by destroying a major part of their plan. This also convinced them that it would be too difficult and expensive for the benefit they would

People were left with nothing after the flood. It took a very long time for the whole area to regain their lives again since many lost their friends and loved ones. Ever since then, the protection for the Mississippi River has been growing, but one day, it’ll fill up again, and cause another terrible flood. But before then, we just have to stay prepared for anything that wants to disturb this

The Mississippi River influences the states of Louisiana in numerous ways. The river can be both beneficial and harmful to the state. It may help with industries, but at the same time it may be harming by taking away from Louisiana’s coastline. While erosion is widely considered to be a destructive occurrence, it does have some necessary features. For example, erosion provides many nutrients for animals living in the water, and it creates new deltas that many animals live in. Since the beginning of Louisiana, the Mississippi River has been a crucial factor in the creation and the development of Louisiana’s economy. It has helped with things like trade and the growth of crops. The Mississippi is also significant in the way Louisiana is shaped

First time I visited to hudson river wetlab pier 40 in New York City in my life. I did not knew too much information about the river before I left to hudson river. I saw many fishes to hudson river and hudson estuary also hosts many migratory fishes, such as atlantic sturgeon, american shad, and striped bass that fish live the few months or years of their lives in a fresh water and before they swimming out into the atlantic they do mature. As a adults of fishes they have to return to the river only to spawn. Hudson river also they have many different kind of animals as well such as diamondback terrapin, megan lorenz, chesapeake bay oysters, bald eagle, atlantic sturgeon, and red salamander, so on. One thing that, I heard from the women she was saying that the atlantic sturgeon is the hudson largest fish, that often reaching lengths of five to eight feet and in addition, it is anadromous females fish and

The 2016 Louisiana floods were a reminder of the never ending fight to prevent floods in the State. The risk of flooding will further be elevated as climatic related events, like sea level rise and storms, continue to occur. After reviewing the literature, it seems as if the region is not and has never been fit for human development, and no effort will eliminate the risk of flooding. However, this does not change the fact that Louisiana is home to over 4 million people, a large portion of which are poor. The State’s public health infrastructure is not adequately prepared to meet needs of the most vulnerable populations during such disasters. Therefore, adaptation measures must be

The aim of this research is to examine using surface water diverted water the Mississippi River Tributaries for irrigation, by quantifying volumes of water that can be diverting by excess water from water from Big Sunflower, Little Tallahatchie, and Buffalo Rivers. The analysis to quantity volumes of water diverted through these rivers, using 80% and 90% of the maximum gage and discharge levels, using Excel with the add-on Solver, with spreadsheets and data from the United