LSU researchers launching $3.8M study of Mississippi River Delta

An interdisciplinary team of LSU researchers is coordinating the largest-ever collaborative study of the seabed where the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico with $3.8 million in support from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The Mississippi River Delta Front is the submerged, muddy apron around the mouth of the Mississippi River, or “bird’s foot.” The area is home to significant energy infrastructure and pipelines.

Although the Mississippi River Delta is one of the most thoroughly studied deltas in the world, only about 40% of the Mississippi River Delta Front, the size of about 600,000 football fields, has been mapped before. The team aims to better understand the underwater mudslides in the area that displace pipelines and which are more common than previously thought. Read more about the project from LSU.

This story originally appeared in a Nov. 1 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.