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louisiana's delta region is a national

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resource providing much of this country

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shrimp and other fish products as well

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as oil and natural gas

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but many of the wetlands which serve as

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spawning grounds for its major fish

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crops are rapidly disappearing

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what makes the situation even more

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striking is that other parts of this

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same shoreline are actually growing

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it's this dual set of circumstances that

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has caught the attention of geologists

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doug rickman from nasa's stennis space

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center and louisiana state university's

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oscar hugh

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their focus today is a part of the coast

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where mud is accumulating and forming

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new land

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the mud is sediment from rivers which

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flow into the gulf but why it's washing

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ashore in certain areas and not in

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others is not well understood

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that's why hue also leads expeditions

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into the gulf itself the ocean floor in

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this area is essentially a broad

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featureless plane of sediment deposited

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by the echapolaya river a major branch

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of the mississippi

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using a variety of techniques hugh and

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his colleagues map the muddy bottom to

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determine the patterns by which sediment

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moves and land is gained to manage this

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environment we must understand how it

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naturally operates levying has gone on

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uh there are locks in the control

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structures going on some of these have

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been very valuable and others have had

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very serious negative consequences and

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as these environments change as land is

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lost or land is gained or

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land erosion takes place

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it has a serious effect on the economy

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here

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this scanner called cams at the nasa

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stennis center provides another

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perspective on the problem when

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installed on the learjet and flown over

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the study site cams produces imagery

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which with doug rickman's expertise

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clearly shows a growing delta at the

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mouth of the atchafalaya

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the yellow areas are exposed mud flats

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the image on the top is from march 1987

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below it is the same area less than a

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year later

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as rickman illustrates with this

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geologic map of the state sediment-rich

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waters from the mississippi being

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channeled down the atchafalaya are

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helping form this new delta

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the problem to the east near new orleans

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is that old delta regions levied off

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from the mississippi to prevent flooding

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are dying

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the goal is to reverse this trend or at

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least prevent further damage by better

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understanding sediment transport once we

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can understand that then we can tell

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people if you do this kind of action if

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you put a levee here if you'd like this

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or if you divert the water here

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this is the impact you're going to have

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this information could have applications

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in other coastal areas around the world

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and provide an important model for

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dealing with rising sea levels should

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global warming occur

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studying louisiana's delta