Mississippi River Delta

This article looks at the Mississippi River Delta. For the region of the same name in the state of Mississippi, see Lower Mississippi Delta Region . For the film of the same name see Mississippi Delta - In the Swamp of Vengeance .

The geologically youngest part of the delta in 2001, before the destruction by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005

The "Delta Lobes", various compartments of sediment that were raised in the Holocene from the estuary of the Mississippi off the coast of Louisiana

Aerial photographs showing land losses between 1932 and 2012

The Mississippi River Delta is an area of ​​land and water that has formed since the Holocene because suspended matter transported through the Mississippi River is deposited in front of the river's mouth. In the past five thousand years, the Louisiana coast has pushed 25 to 80 kilometers into the Gulf of Mexico . The Mississippi Delta is the southernmost part of the Lower Mississippi Delta region , which begins 1200 kilometers further upstream in southern Illinois . The delta is accessible via a paved road (LA-23) up to the village of Venice .

The approximately 12,000 square kilometers of the river delta is an ecologically important part of the Gulf and makes up 40 percent of the salty marshland in the continental USA . It is an important fishing ground for fishing , including for shrimp , crabs and crayfish . Numerous ships pass through the delta. Much of the oil shipped to the United States is landed in Port Fourchon , Louisiana.

Increasing human use and rising sea levels as a result of climate change pose a threat to the delta.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mississippi River Delta ( English ) In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved December 29, 2010.

Coordinates: 29 ° 10 ′ 1 ″  N , 89 ° 15 ′ 1 ″  W.