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Rivers of the Lower Mississippi Basin - Chapter 6

Published Article

United States

Publication date: January 2, 2023

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This study examines the Lower Mississippi Basin from Cairo, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, focusing on river hydrology, ecological change, habitat loss, navigation pressures, and restoration opportunities across Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. It highlights impacts from levees, agriculture, and altered floodplain systems.

Subject Tags

  • Rivers
  • Ecosystem management

Abstract

Discussed in this chapter are seven significant tributaries of the Lower Mississippi River and its major distributary. As a group, these eight rivers and their basins encompass substantial variation in physical form, hydrology, biota, ecology, and human impacts. The Current River, Ouachita River, and Saline River, flow to the Mississippi out of the U.S. Interior Highlands. The Cache River basin, centered in Arkansas, contains a vast expanse of bottomland hardwood forest and is famous for wintering waterfowl. The Hatchie River, flowing west out of Tennessee, is the longest free-flowing tributary of the Lower Mississippi River and famous for its rich diversity of mussels and fishes. The Wolf River of Tennessee supports a magnificent bald cypress-tupelo swamp and is notable as a protected urban river that flows through Memphis. The Big Sunflower River begins and ends in the alluvial floodplain of the Mississippi River and flows through a basin of intense agriculture and historical human conflict. The Atchafalaya River, the primary distributary of the Mississippi River, supports the nation's largest expanse of bottomland hardwood forest and swamp wetlands. In this chapter, we review the physiography, geomorphology, hydrology, water chemistry, land use, biological diversity, ecological processes, human impacts, and areas of need for research and management of each of these eight rivers and their basins.

Citations

Clifford A. Ochs, Joseph Baustian, Audrey B. Harrison, Paul Hartfield, Carol Johnston, Catherine A. Justis, Daniel Larsen, Andrew Mickelson, Bryan P. Piazza, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Chapter 6 - Rivers of the Lower Mississippi Basin, Editor(s): Michael D. Delong, Timothy D. Jardine, Arthur C. Benke, Colbert E. Cushing,Rivers of North America (Second Edition), Academic Press, 2023, Pages 226-271, ISBN 9780128188477,

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818847-7.00002-1

TNC Authors