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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L16303, doi:10.1029/2007GL030003, 2007

Post-glacial sediment load and subsidence in coastal Louisiana

Erik R. Ivins

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Roy K. Dokka

Center for GeoInformatics and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA


Ronald G. Blom

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Abstract

Sea level rise in the Gulf of Mexico has occurred at a rate of 1.8–2.2 mm/yr during the 20th century, or nearly the same as observed globally due to combined steric and water mass changes. Tide gauges in coastal Louisiana, however, record a substantially larger rate of rise and while a number of causal mechanisms may be responsible, their specific contribution is poorly understood. Using a realistic viscoelastic Earth model, detailed geologic parameters for south Louisiana and new GPS data, we demonstrate that Holocene sedimentary loading in the Gulf and Mississippi River delta is capable of contributing to 1–8 mm/yr of subsidence over areas of 30–0.75 × 103 km2.

Received 13 March 2007; accepted 17 July 2007; published 17 August 2007.

Keywords: coastal processes; rheology mantle; sedimentary loading.

Index Terms: 1211 Geodesy and Gravity: Non-tectonic deformation; 1641 Global Change: Sea level change (1222, 1225, 4556); 1861 Hydrology: Sedimentation (4863); 8162 Tectonophysics: Rheology: mantle (8033).

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Citation: Ivins, E. R., R. K. Dokka, and R. G. Blom (2007), Post-glacial sediment load and subsidence in coastal Louisiana, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16303, doi:10.1029/2007GL030003.