Dynamic sediment trapping and episodic sediment accretion in fluviodeltaic environments: Implications for coastal restoration

Many large river deltas are experiencing severe land loss because of various natural and anthropogenic causes. This is truly the case for the Mississippi Delta where ~40 km2/yr land loess have been documented for the last 25 years. A solid understanding about fluviodeltaic sediment dispersion and accretion is essential to improve management of fluviodeltaic landscapes. Here we present field data collected from the Bayou Lafourche subdelta in the Mississippi Delta to investigate the sedimentary and chronologic development of the Bayou Lafourche floodplain. The textural composition of the floodplain deposits shows dramatic changes along Bayou Lafourche. In the upstream portion where Bayou Lafourche cut through swamp environments, the floodplain deposits are dominantly mud, similar in composition to sediment load of the Lower Mississippi River. This suggests that the floodplain in this reach has a relatively high sediment trapping efficiency, which is confirmed by a >50% sediment trapping efficiency estimated for a crevasse splay there. In contrast, Bayou Lafourche floodplain deposits are sand dominant in the downstream portion where the subdelta extended into an open water environment, which suggests a relatively low sediment trapping efficiency in open water environments, similar to the Wax Lake Delta in the Mississippi Delta. Optical chronology for the Bayou Lafourche floodplain deposits demonstrates that fluviodeltaic sedimentation is episodic at a centennial time scale. As a consequence of relatively high sediment trapping efficiency and the episodic pattern of fluviodeltaic deposition, sediment accretion rates on the upstream portion of Bayou Lafourche are on the order of cm/yr at a centennial time scale. Our data suggest that mud, which constitutes ~80% of the Lower Mississippi River sediment load, can be used efficiently for wetland creation if being diverted to locations favor a high trapping efficiency, such as inland vegetated swamps. The sediment accretion rates documented in this study suggest that coastal restoration by resuming the natural sedimentation processes has great potential to create net land elevation gain in the Mississippi Delta.