education at the LSU School of Geology. An analysis of this literature reveals that during the past 

 7,000 years the mighty Mississippi River created about 14,000 mi 2 of new land in the Gulf of 

 Mexico in the form of a series of deltas. However, as a result of the natural processes of deka 

 abandonment, compaction, and subsidence of delta sediments, the gulf has moved inland to reclaim 

 about 7,000 mi 2 of this new land. 



In spite of this massive research effort at Louisiana State University over a period of 38 years, 

 there are still many citizens of coastal Louisiana who do not understand the basic principles of 

 natural deltaic sedimentation and the concurrent loss of land previously created by the deltas. Over 

 80% of the shorelines of coastal Louisiana are and should be under natural transgressive conditions 

 today. Wherever humans choose to live upon the present deltas of the world, they should be 

 prepared to suffer the inevitable consequences of loss of coastal lands. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The writer is indebted to Shea Penland and John R. Suter of the Louisiana Geological Survey 

 for their assistance in the preparation of this paper and for their permission to use their illustration 

 (Figure 12). The Louisiana Land and Exploration Company also assisted me with the preparation 

 of the manuscript. 



SIGNIFICANT GEOLOGICAL PAPERS ON 

 THE MISSISSIPPI DELTAIC PLAIN COMPLEX 



Barton, D.C. 1930. Deltaic coastal plain of southeast Texas Geo!. Soc. Am. BuN. 41:339-382. 



Barton, Chief Geologist for Humble Oil Co., mapped distributary channels of the Trinity Deka - 

 first usage of "deltaic plain." 



Trowbridge, AC. 1930. Building of the Mississippi Delta. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geoi 14:§n7-901. 



Trowbridge, State Univ. of Iowa, conducted first significant study of eastern part of the Miss. 

 Delta. Defines the delta, discusses channels and bays, explains processes of deka building. 



Howe, H.V., and C.K Moresi. 1931. Geology of Iberia Parish. La. Geo!. Surv. BuH No. 1. 



Howe, H.V., and C.K. Moresi. 1933. Geology of Lafayette and St. Martin Parishes. La. Geoi 

 Surv. Bull. No. 3. 



Russell, R.J. 1936. Physiography of Lower Mississippi River Delta. La. Geoi. Surv. Bull. No. 

 8. 199 pp. 



This is a classic paper on the environments of sediment deposition of the Mississippi dekak 

 plain of St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes. Discusses land forms and causes of submergence. 



Russell, R.J., and R.D. Russell. 1939. Mississippi River Delta Sedimentation. Pages 153-177 j§ 

 P.D. Trask, ed. Recent marine sediments. American Association of Petroleum Geotopsts. 



Probably best early paper on relationship of sediments to environments wkhtn eastern part of 

 delta. 



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