Impact of Sea-Level Rise on Coastal Wetlands

FIGURE 16.12 Factors that affect the aecretionary balance of coastal wetlands. 

FIGURE 16.13 Processes that affect the accretion balance in response to relative sea-level rise of coastal wetlands. 

Subsidence due to compaction of the Mississippi River sediment accounts for 85-95% of the water-level increase. During the past several thousand years, the Mississippi River deltaic plain expanded considerably, despite the rapid increase in relative sea-level rise. However, in the last century, this accretion trend was reversed with wetland losses of up to 100 km year . As a result, marsh 

Aransas San Chenier Baratarla BloxIBay, Florida NWR, TX Bernard Plain, LA Basin, LA MS Keys, FL NWR, TX 

FIGURE 16.14 Vertical marsh accretion and relative sea-level rise at selected marsh locations along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico. (Modified from Callaway et ah, 1997, which includes data from DeLaune et ah, 1983 and Hatton et ah, 1983.) 

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