Linking backbarrier lacustrine stratigraphy with spatial dynamics of shoreline retreat in a rapidly subsiding region of the Mississippi River Delta

Abstract

The northern Gulf of Mexico shoreline is rapidly retreating, and coastal features of the abandoned Mississippi River delta complexes are eroding and subsiding. Bay Champagne is located in the Caminada-Moreau headland, a region located west of the currently active delta that has one of the highest rates of retreat and land loss globally. As a result, the shoreline at Bay Champagne has retreated more than two kilometers in the past 130 years, causing a gradual transition from a stable, circular freshwater lake to a frequently disturbed, semi-circular backbarrier lagoon. Analyses of clastic layers in a series of sediment cores collected at this site over the past decade indicate the lake was less perturbed in the past and has become increasingly more sensitive to marine incursion events caused by tropical cyclones as the shoreline retreated. Geochemical and pollen analyses of the cores also reveal profound changes in environmental and chemical conditions at Bay Champagne over the past century. Through relating stratigraphy to spatial changes observed from satellite imagery, this study establishes a timeline of the transition of Bay Champagne from an inland lake to a backbarrier environment, and demonstrated that these changes have not occurred at a constant rate. These results provide a case-study of changing local environmental conditions in response to rapid shoreline retreat, and therefore serve as a model for future coastal changes for Louisiana and other Gulf coastal areas.