Date of Award
Summer 8-2020
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Program
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Department
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Major Professor
Dr. Ioannis Georgiou
Second Advisor
Dr. Mark Kulp
Third Advisor
Dr. John Lopez
Abstract
In 2012, a breach in a natural levee occurred on the Mississippi River near the Bohemian Spillway, forming a new distributary named Mardi Gras Pass. Since its genesis, scientists from local universities and NGOs have been regularly performing bathymetric and bank surveys to track the channel’s expansion, as well as discharge surveys throughout the receiving basin. This study developed and implemented a hindcast simulation based on this wealth of data utilizing the morpho- and hydrodynamic model, Delft3D. This model was then used to create a 20-year forecast and a 1-year simulation without tidal and subtidal forces. The results demonstrated that tides were a major influence on water levels, discharge rates, and sedimentation patterns. The forecast suggested that an avulsion is not likely in the near future. However, channel reorganizing within the floodplain occurred as preferential flow and deposition trends developed based on the physical parameters determined by the hindcast.
Recommended Citation
Hansen, Joshua, "Forecasting the Development of a Natural Levee Breach and Subsequent Sediment Distribution at Mardi Gras Pass, Louisiana" (2020). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2816.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2816
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.