Date of Award
Fall 12-2012
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Program
Geology
Department
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Major Professor
Kulp, Mark
Second Advisor
Georgiou, Ioannis
Third Advisor
Gani, M. Royhan
Abstract
Trinity, East, and Wine Islands make up the eastern half of the Isles Dernieres barrier arc in south-central Louisiana. Formed following the abandonment of the Lafourche delta complex, subsidence and storm erosion have led to rapid deterioration of the system. Since 1887, the land area of the islands has decreased seventy-seven percent, and the gulf shoreline has retreated landward more than a kilometer. Wave ravinement on the shoreface of the islands is responsible for the most sediment loss; liberated sediment travels longshore to tidal inlets. The dominant ebb tidal currents then transport the sediment to where it is deposited in ebb tidal deltas or carried to the west, out of the system. A large lobe of sediment bypassing Cat Island Pass is entering the system from the eastern lower shoreface, which helps replace some of the sediment lost through wave ravinement to the upper shoreface.
Recommended Citation
Kirkland, Benjamin T., "Geomorphologic evolution of a rapidly deteriorating barrier island system with multiple sediment sources: Eastern Isles Dernieres, Louisiana, 1887 to 2006" (2012). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1564.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1564
Included in
Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Geology Commons, Geomorphology Commons, Sedimentology Commons
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.