Environmental Science, 10th Edition (Cunningham)

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Overview: Mississippi Delta and Louisiana Coastal Wetlands, (p. 278)

If you follow the river north to the area around Barataria Bay, you can see some of the network of canals cut for oil and gas drilling. Continue a little farther along the curves and bends of the river, and you'll see how New Orleans is perched between the Mississippi and Lake Ponchartrain. If you turn on the borders layer when you're looking at the coastline, you can see an outline of where the marshes used to be.

1			We've known for years that New Orleans is below sea level and that destruction of the coastal wetlands exposes the city to storm surges. What are some reasons we haven't done something about it?
			A)	Louisiana is famous for cultural richness, which makes people reluctant to move.
			B)	Louisiana is famous for political corruption, which makes corrective action difficult.
			C)	Restoration of wetlands has never been as high a priority as restoration of more "useful" environments, such as forests.
			D)	The answers provided above as well as other reasons help explain why coastal Louisiana remains in a tight spot decades after its problems were understood.
			E)	A well-meaning but poorly designed effort to utilize equipment made in Europe caused irreparable damage to the levees because of difficulties converting data from the metric system.
2			According to the case study on p. 278, what are some strategies for restoring the wetlands?
			A)	Some of the canals cut through the wetlands are being plugged.
			B)	Gaps and bypasses have been opened in river levees to allow river sediments to once again enter wetlands and replenish them.
			C)	Revegetation is going on in some places.
			D)	All three answers provided above are strategies for restoring the wetlands.
			E)	Doing nothing will be effective.
3			Why doesn't the sediment now carried by the river replenish the marshes?
			A)	There is less sediment these days because of upriver improvements.
			B)	The levees and deep channels cut through the delta to facilitate shipping and to prevent flooding cause sediments to be carried out to the edge of the continental shelf, rather than dispersed away from the channel.
			C)	The sediment has changed over time into an extremely light powder, which can't break free from the water's surface tension.
			D)	The sediment has changed over time into a much heavier, clay-like substance, which sinks long before it reaches the marshes.
			E)	The sediment is siphoned away by International Sand and Gravel Corporation before it reaches the marshes.