Date of Award
8-2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Program
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Department
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Major Professor
Kulp, Mark
Second Advisor
Gani, M.Royhan
Third Advisor
Miner, Michael
Abstract
A series of USACE atlas quadrangles and dee pborings from the USGS and LGS with radiocarbon dated peats were used to construct several regional crosssections and paleogeographic reconstructions. Late Pleistocene glaciation and consequent lowered sea leve lresulted in reentrenchment of the Mississippi River incised valley. Meltwater floods from proglacial lakes incised into older deposits followed by braided fluvial (substratum) aggradation due to reduced carrying capacity after floods followed by meandering fluvial(topstratum aggradation as fluvial gradients and discharge decreased. Rapidly rising sea level prevented development of shelf phase deltas prior to~10ka. Attenuated rates of sea level rise and periodic avulsions led to development and subsequent abandonment of several shelf phase deltas and barrier island arcs as well as gradual encroachment of the top stratum up the alluvial valley as aggradational depositon filled available accommodation space.
Recommended Citation
Wessels, Scott, "Late Quaternary Mississippi River Incised Valley Fill: Transgressive Depositional Packages" (2010). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1236.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1236
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.