River- Mississippi River

I grew up in Minnesota by the great Mississippi river.  I have always been fascinated by the river and with the recent flooding again this spring I thought it would be something interesting to discuss.  Another, tie to the Mississippi I have, is in High School (a long time ago) I was an Intern in the Human Resources Department at the Army Corp of Engineers and I worked with many of the job descriptions for the staff working the Lock and Dams along the river. 

The first thing about the Mississippi is the pure size of the river, it is the second largest river in the United States.  The River starts in Minnesota and ends at the Gulf of Mexico. The river flows 2,350 miles in its entirety.  I thought it was fascinating to learn it takes about 3 months for the water to get from the Itasca State Park (the beginning of the river) to the Gulf of Mexico.  The flow of the river is about 1.2 miles per hours or so.    The Mississippi is used for shipping and commerce and has over 500 million tons of items shipped on it river each year.  Also, has an abundance of wildlife, fish and amphibians living in or around the water basin.  I think it was pretty neat that 60% of all North American birds (326 species) use the river as a migratory flyway.(National Park Service)

Picture cited: https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm

The Mississippi has had great flooding over the years with millions of dollars in damages. Most of these floods were considered regional flooding based on rainfall or excessive snow melt in a short amount of time.   The picture above actually shows the watershed basin area for the Mississippi and sounding river areas.   Normally river meandering which means a river will naturally create S-shaped curves.  These channels then develop over time as sediment from bedrock is brought down the rivers path.    Meandering creates active cut banks which show erosion of the side areas of the river as they naturally flow down the river.  These active cut bank create and add more sedimentation to the river as the bedrock is slowly pull apart.   This creates natural levees over the years which help with flooding.

There is quite a bit of conversation and controversy over the Government and Army Corps of Engineers changes to the Mississippi River over the years.  Apart of the changes was they straighten the river in certain areas for quicker path for shipping and created more of a controlled river.  The natural movement of a river and river bed areas was taken away by trying to control the river.  they have had to create made made levees to create a path for the rivers.  They created channelization and flood control dams to help to alleviate flooding.  Some of the regional flooding as been so excessive over the years that dams and levees have not been successful in keeping all the water in the confined area creating massive flooding of homes and towns.  Which is so heartbreaking to see.  It is hard to understand that is just natural for rivers to flood but then see the massive destruction they can create.  It is kinda unbelievable

 
References

lutgens, F., & Tarbuck, E. (2015). Essential of Geology. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

National Park Service. (n.d.). Retrieved from Mississippi River: https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm