Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Creative Destruction or merely Destruction

I was trolling through the archives of a NPR program called Talk of the Nation, which mainly covercurrent events and politics and the like. However every Friday the program focuses on science. On septenber 9, 2005 an expert on deltas in general and the Missisippi delta in partucular was on. Mark Tidwell went on about how deltas are eroded by the oceanic sytems, hurricanes and subsidence and are bult up by silt laden rivers. When one or both of these processes are interupted problems ensue. The Lousianna coast is being damaged by levees, erected as flood control and pumping of grounwater. The Nile delta is being damaged by the way that that Aswan dam has stopped the Nile from transporting silt to the delta. Mark Tidwell pointed out that all coastal cities are going to have problems with sealevel rises.

Mark Tidwell wrote a book about bayous and other land forms particular to coastal Lousianna, called, Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast.

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