Satellite images show large sediment plumes from flooding

[alp227]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Dramatic satellite images show large deposits of sediment in coastal Louisiana, the receiving end of the massive flooding on the Mississippi River.

The sediment gush has a down and up side in region known for its seafood and delicate wetlands, a federal official said Friday.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA recently provided the stark imagery of the sediment plumes to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Louisiana to assist them with flood response.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/27/louisiana.flooding/index.html

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[marmar]

1. Between the oil spill and the floods, Gulf seafood is going the way of the Dodo bird.

nt

[Ex Lurker]

2. as the article points out, the sediment is a short term detriment and a long term benefit

It's how Nature worked before Man interfered.

[DCBob]

7. except that much of that sediment contains fertilizers, pesticides and other toxins..

that cause havoc with living creatures in the Gulf.

[Blacksheep214]

3. I thought it was the lack of sediment

which was causing the wetland erosion and decline, leaving the area more prone to hurricane damage.

As for the shellfish? Better buried than eaten in my opinion. Same with the bottom hugging oil plume.

Better buried!

[Igel]

5. It's one of the bits of schizophrenia that drives part of public policy.

We encased the Mississippi in levees to prevent flooding.

In so doing, we prevented it from switching to the channel it would have probably gone to by now--away from Baton Rouge and NOLA and into the Atchafalaya. Had the river switched channels, the Mississippi Delta would have been probably even more eroded by now than it has been. On the other hand, a new delta would be gradually formed.

We continue to contain the Mississippi, even though it means periodic flooding of highly built up areas, because the alternative is to have those built-up areas abandoned by the river. Bad for river-port cities, being high and dry. Of course, the upside would be that we could produce *new* built-up areas further away from flood plains, rather than have things like part of NOLA below sea level. Containing the Mississippi means that the Delta, artificially maintained for as long as it has, is more slowly eroding than it would have otherwise.

[OnlinePoker]

6. It's also the reason New Orleans is sinking

Without the annual flood of fresh sediment, subsidence is causing the previous layers to continue compacting resulting in a drop in elevation.

[NoodleyAppendage]

4. Sediment deposition is one of the reasons why farmland is so rich in the Delta region.

Sometimes flooding of this sort has a long-term silver lining...though admittedly the short-term pain is great.

J