Organic Matter Accretion, Shallow Subsidence, and River Delta Sustainability

PALSEA is a PAGES and INQUA working group focused on using past changes in sea level and Earth’s cryosphere to constrain future sea-level rise in response to climate change.

Using an unprecedented data set of almost 3,000 discrete bulk density and organic-matter measurements, the authors examine organic-rich facies from coastal Louisiana to quantify the thickness lost to compaction and investigate whether sediments are able to maintain sufficient volume for the associated wetlands to keep pace with RSLR. They find that organic content as well as overburden thickness and density (which together determine effective stress) strongly control sediment compaction.