Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve: Geologic resources inventory report
Schupp CA and KellerLynn K. 2019. Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve: Geologic resources inventory report. Natural Resource Report. NPS/NRSS/GRD/NRR—2019/2019. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This report synthesizes discussions from a scoping meeting held in 2010 and a follow-up conference call in 2017 (see Appendix A). Chapters of this report discuss the geologic setting of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (referred to as the “park” throughout this report), highlight distinctive geologic features and processes in the park, address geologic issues facing resource managers, describe the geologic history leading to the present-day landscape, and provide information about the previously completed GRI map data. Four posters (in pocket) illustrate these data. This report is supported by GRI GIS data that compiled parts of seven source maps that were produced by the Louisiana Geological Survey to cover seven 30 × 60 minute quadrangles (New Orleans, Ponchatoula, Gulfport, Baton Rouge, Black Bay, Crowley, and Ville Platte) in the Louisiana Mississippi River Delta area. Mapping took place at a scale of 1:100,000. Selected 7.5 minute quadrangles (i.e., those containing park units or other areas of interest) contained within these 30 × 60 minute quadrangles were included in the GRI GIS data. The data incorporate 23 map units that show the evolution of the landscape during the Pleistocene (2.6 million–11,700 years ago) and Holocene (the past 11,700 years) Epochs. The “Geologic Map Data” chapter of this report discusses the GRI GIS data. Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve protects and interprets the Mississippi River Delta’s rich cultural and natural resources that demonstrate the interaction of this region’s distinctive environment, complex history, and diverse communities, lifeways, and traditions. The park encompasses six sites: Barataria Preserve, including the Fleming Plantation Area; Chalmette Battlefield and Chalmette National Cemetery (referred to as the “Chalmette Unit” in this report); the French Quarter Visitor Center; and three Acadian cultural centers, from east to west, Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux, Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette, and Prairie Acadian Cultural Center in Eunice. The Mississippi River is the unifying geomorphic feature of the park’s geologic setting. All six of the park sites lie atop sediments deposited by the Mississippi River and its distributaries (on the delta) or its tributaries such as the Red and Vermillion Rivers. Combined, the six park sites cover more than 10,000 ha (25,000 ac) and incorporate portions of two delta lobes (Lafourche and St. Bernard) and associated features, two Mississippi River meander belts (1 and 3), deposits of tributaries, Peoria Loess (windblown silt), and the Prairie Terrace (widespread, coast-parallel surface built by overlapping floodplains of the Mississippi River, Red River, and smaller streams). In addition, the park includes estuarine and coastal shoreline and open water. The “Geologic Features and Processes” chapter of this report discusses these features. The “Geologic Resource Management Issues” chapter discusses climate change impacts, including sea level rise; coastal resource management and planning; data, research, and planning needs; disturbed lands, including coastal engineering, abandoned mineral lands, canals and spoil banks, artificial waterways, and artificial levees; earthquakes; hurricanes; land loss; oil and gas operations; recreational and watershed land use; restoration and coastal protection projects; and subsidence. Discussions of issues were based on the 2010 scoping meeting (see scoping summary by KellerLynn 2010a), the monument’s foundation document (NPS 2015), the 2017 conference call, and reviewers’ comments to the first draft of this report.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Schupp, Courtney; KellerLynn, Katie
- Date of Issue
- 2019-10
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRD , GRI , GULN , JELA , NRSS , SER
- Keywords
- and Planning Needs, Climate Change Impacts, Coastal Resources Management and Planning, Data, Delta Cycle, Disturbed Lands, Earthquakes, Faults, Geologic Features, Geologic Features of the GRI GIS Data, Geologic History, Geologic Processes, Geologic Resource Management Issues, Geologic Resources Division, Geologic Resources Inventory, GRD, GRI, Hurricanes, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, JELA, Land Loss, Louisiana, Map Unit Properties Table, Map Units, National Park Service, NPS, Oil and Gas Operations, Paleontological Resources, Recreational and Watershed Land Use, Research, Resource Management, Restoration and Coastal Protection Projects, Subsidence, Wetlands
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Coastal/Oceanographic Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Stream/River Channel Characteristics , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Lake Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Paleontology | Paleontology