Vulnerability of Louisiana's coastal wetlands to present-day rates of relative sea-level rise.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28290444.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms14792 and PMC identifier 5355890.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Coastal Louisiana has lost about 5,000 km<sup>2</sup> of wetlands over the past century and concern exists whether remaining wetlands will persist while facing some of the world's highest rates of relative sea-level rise (RSLR). Here we analyse an unprecedented data set derived from 274 rod surface-elevation table-marker horizon stations, to determine present-day surface-elevation change, vertical accretion and shallow subsidence rates. Comparison of vertical accretion rates with RSLR rates at the land surface (present-day RSLR rates are 12±8 mm per year) shows that 65% of wetlands in the Mississippi Delta (SE Louisiana) may keep pace with RSLR, whereas 58% of the sites in the Chenier Plain (SW Louisiana) do not, rendering much of this area highly vulnerable to RLSR. At least 60% of the total subsidence rate occurs within the uppermost 5-10 m, which may account for the higher vulnerability of coastal Louisiana wetlands compared to their counterparts elsewhere.