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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 33,
L11403,
doi:10.1029/2006GL026300,
2006
Current subsidence rates due to compaction of Holocene sediments in southern Louisiana
T. A. Meckel
U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
U. S. ten Brink
U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
S. Jeffress Williams
U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
Abstract
Relative contributions of geologic and anthropogenic processes to subsidence of southern Louisiana are vigorously debated.
Of these, shallow sediment compaction is often considered dominant, although this has never been directly observed or effectively
demonstrated. Quantitative understanding of subsidence is important for predicting relative sea level rise, storm surge flooding
due to hurricanes, and for successful wetland restoration. Despite many shallow borings, few appropriate stratigraphic and
geotechnical data are available for site-specific calculations. We overcome this by determining present compaction rates from
Monte Carlo simulations of the incremental sedimentation and compaction of stratigraphies typical of the Holocene of southern
Louisiana. This approach generates distributions of present compaction rates that are not expected to exceed 5 mm/yr, but
may locally. Locations with present subsidence rates greater than the predicted maximum probable shallow compaction rates
are likely influenced by additional processes.
Received 14
March
2006;
accepted 2
May
2006;
published 14
June
2006.
Index Terms: 1641 Global Change: Sea level change (1222, 1225, 4556); 3265 Mathematical Geophysics: Stochastic processes (3235, 4468, 4475, 7857); 4863 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Sedimentation (1861).
Read Full Article (file size: 1375091 bytes) Cited by
Citation: Meckel, T. A., U. S. ten Brink, and S. J. Williams
(2006),
Current subsidence rates due to compaction of Holocene sediments in southern Louisiana,
Geophys. Res. Lett.,
33,
L11403,
doi:10.1029/2006GL026300.
This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. Published in 2006 by the
American Geophysical Union.
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