No description available.

In the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, relating changes in zooplankton communities to environmental factors is crucial to understanding the marine ecosystem and impacts of perturbations such as oil spills on marine ecosystems. Zooplankton samples were collected each year between 2005–2014 in spring and summer in the vicinity of the oil spill (Deepwater Horizon) that occurred in spring 2010. Zooplankton assemblages and environmental conditions significantly differed seasonally, driven by strong variations in zooplankton at continental shelf stations, and by environmental factors including Mississippi River discharge, wind direction, temperature, and chlorophyll concentrations. Total zooplankton abundances were greatest at shelf stations, intermediate at slope stations, and lowest at offshore stations. Seasonal separation was driven by greater abundances of crab zoea, cladocerans, ostracods, and the copepod, Eucalanus spp. during summer. Copepods, Centropages spp., were significant indicators of summer conditions both before and after the oil spill. Sub-regional comparisons in percent composition and abundances of six major non-copepod and seven copepod taxa revealed that most taxa either remained the same or significantly increased in abundance following the spill. A significant decrease in post oil spill taxa was observed only during spring for total copepods, Eucalanaus spp., and for salps at continental slope stations, however varying processing techniques used for zooplankton before and after the spill were employed and should be considered. . Based on our sampling periods, these results indicate that the 2010 oil spill did not significantly impact zooplankton communities in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.

River training structures are widely used to create and maintain navigable waterways, to restore rivers and channels in a more stable condition, to promote environmental benefits, and to protect people and infrastructure from damages or floods. Few historical datasets on the changes and impacts in secondary waterbodies resulting from notched river training structures are available for the Lower Mississippi River. Access to the notched training structures on the Lower Mississippi River remains difficult and inhibits data collection for monitoring efforts. This increases the need for alternative methods such as numerical models for assessing the performance of the notched training structures. A quasi-three-dimensional Adaptive Hydraulics model was assembled and used to provide a hydraulic assessment of seven notched river training structures in the Lower Mississippi River. The hydraulic assessment of the notches included assessing the impacts to navigation, the long-term trends, and the potential for aquatic wildlife habitat diversity.

The Mississippi Alluvial Plain, a robust agricultural region in the South-Central United States, provides commodities across the United States and around the world. Water for irrigation, which is necessary due to irregular rainfall patterns during the growing season, is withdrawn largely from the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial aquifer, one of the most intensely used aquifers in the United States. The groundwater-dependent region has observed recent declines in groundwater and streamflow levels, raising concerns about the availability and use of fresh-water resources. Declining water levels have prompted investigation into the current understanding of groundwater and surface-water interaction. Previous research does not adequately quantify the unobservable exchange of water between surface-water bodies and the underlying aquifer. This research was designed to advance the current understanding of the interaction between groundwater and surface water through the quantification of spatial and temporal trends in streamflow and groundwater level changes and the use of high-resolution spatial estimates of streambed hydraulic conductivity. Changes in streamflow and groundwater levels were quantified with the use of hydrograph-separation techniques and trend analyses. High-resolution estimates of streambed hydraulic conductivity were found through the correlation of waterborne continuous resistivity profiling data to hydraulic conductivity and streambed hydraulic conductivity estimates were incorporated into the existing Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study (MERAS) groundwaterlow model. Site-specific empirical relationships between resistivity and hydraulic conductivity were developed with near-stream borehole geophysical logs to improve model estimates of streambed hydraulic conductivity. Results of the quantification of changes in streamflow and groundwater levels suggested agricultural groundwater withdrawals for irrigation to be the primary source of groundwater-level declines. Results from the incorporation of high-resolution estimates of streambed hydraulic conductivity showed that the existing groundwaterlow model is sensitive to changes in streambed hydraulic conductivity, which may impact model accuracy. The incorporation of streambed hydraulic conductivity estimates derived from site-specific empirical relationships impacted MERAS model water-budget estimates. Information gained from this research will be used to improve the existing groundwaterlow model, which acts as a decision-support tool for water-resource managers at state and local levels to make informed water-use decisions for the conservation of fresh-water resources for sustainable agricultural irrigation practices.

Low grade rip rap weirs installed in agricultural surface drainage ditches manage downstream eutrophication by slowing water flow, allowing sediments time to settle out of the water column and phosphorus (P) to sorb to soil. A laboratory experiment was conducted in microcosm chambers to simulate increased hydraulic residence time caused by weirs and two field studies were conducted to compare experimental data with field data and determine sediment deposition rates. One field study monitored weirs monthly after installation and the other measured weirs of varying ages. Weirs retained significantly more water and sediment than controls. Longer inundation times led to abiotic factors known to release P during hydrologic flux, but did not translate to reduced P storage. By converting intermittently inundated sediments into more consistently saturated sediments, weirs function as a viable conservation practice for about a year until temporary P retention mechanisms and sediment retention capacities are reached.

No description available.

Four modern shoals on the Louisiana continental shelf are proposed to have formed through transgression, marine reworking, and submergence of Mississippi River deltaic lobes. However, one of these shoals, the St. Bernard Shoals, is dissimilar to the other shoals in morphology and stratigraphy. Understanding the processes that lead to these differences resulted in the development of a wholly new model for subaqueous shoal evolution. The results of this study suggest that the St. Bernard Shoals are transgressive remnants of a near shelf-edge delta lobe that was transgressed and truncated by marine processes after fluvial abandonment. Subsequent to truncation, the shoals formed through subaqueous excavation and reworking of coarse grained sediment contained within underlying distributary channels by hurricane related marine currents. As a result the shoals are bound at their base by a ravinement surface and lie directly upon progradational facies associated with previously unrecognized southern progradation of the La Loutre distributary network.

The presence of man-made levees along the Lower Mississippi River (MR) has significantly reduced the River sediment input to the wetlands and much of the River's sediment is now lost to the Gulf of Mexico. The sediment load in the River has also been decreased by dams and river revetments along the Upper MR. Freshwater and sediment diversions are possible options to help combat land loss. Numerical modeling of hydrodynamics and sediment transport of the MR is a useful tool to evaluate restoration projects and to improve our understanding of the resulting River response. The emphasis of this study is on the fate of sand in the river and the distributaries. A 3-D unsteady flow mobile-bed model (ECOMSED; HydroQual 2002) of the Lower MR reach between Belle Chasse (RM 76) and downstream of Main Pass (RM 3) was calibrated using field sediment data from 2008 – 2010 (Nittrouer et al. 2008; Allison, 2010). The model was used to simulate River currents, diversion sand capture efficiency, erosional and depositional patterns with and without diversions over a short period of time (weeks). The introduction of new diversions at different locations, e.g., Myrtle Grove (RM 59) and Belair (RM 65), with different geometries and with different outflows was studied. A 1-D unsteady flow mobile-bed model (CHARIMA; Holly et al. 1990) was used to model the same Lower MR reach. This model was used for longer term simulations (months). The simulated diversions varied from 28 m3/s (1, 000 cfs) to 5, 700 m3/s (200, 000 cfs) for river flows up to 35, 000 m3/s (1.2x106 cfs). The model showed that the smaller diversions had little impact on the downstream sand transport. However, the larger diversions had the following effects: 1) reduction in the slope of the hydraulic grade line downstream of the diversion; 2) reduction in the available energy for transport of sand along distributary channels; 3) reduced sand transport capacity in the main channel downstream of the diversion; 4) increased shoaling downstream of the diversion; and 5) a tendency for erosion and possible head-cutting upstream of the diversion.

This research is part of an ongoing effort to improve predictions for bathymetric and morphological changes in the Lower Mississippi River. The utilized model is a subset of a previously calibrated Delft3D model. This shorter model has reduced computational time, and can be deployed for analysis focused on the area between Belle Chasse and HOP, which is the domain of the model. Simulation runs conducted under this study vary from 12 years to 48 years, utilizing a developed 12-year variable hydrograph. The comparison of variable annual hydrograph and repeated representative annual (uniform) hydrograph input data on bathymetric changes indicated that the absolute bathymetric equilibrium is dependent on year to year variability. The utilization of a uniform hydrograph increases the predicted deposition within the river domain. When evaluating diversion sand capture, utilizing a uniform hydrograph can be considered a conservative approach, while utilizing a variable hydrograph will result in more accurate sand load volumes captured by the diversion.In general, sediment capture showed only minor interdependencies amongst multiple diversions, as long as the total diversion flow is less than 140,000cfs. This study shows that morphological changes are dependent on the number and location of multiple diversions. The largest interdependencies occur for the most downstream diversions, which increase with the total diverted flow. A true equilibrium was not achieved within 48 years, with or without sea level rise. It was observed, that the system with diversions responds to sea level rise by an increase in deposition, which increases with total diverted flow.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin -- La Crosse, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-51).