Why America Won't Let the Mississippi River Move

In spring 1973, a concrete structure in rural Louisiana began to shake. If it had failed, the Mississippi River could have abandoned Baton Rouge and New Orleans and taken a shorter path to the sea. It held. But the engineering that holds this river in place is also part of the reason Louisiana's coast is disappearing. In this video: • Why a river that carries ~48% of U.S. grain exports can't afford to run low • How a single tow of 15 barges replaces ~1,000 trucks • The saltwater wedge: how the ocean climbs a river against the current • The Old River Control Structure, and why the Atchafalaya wants the Mississippi • The 1973 near-failure and the 2011 Morganza Spillway opening • Why holding the river starves the delta, and why no option is free Chapters 0:00 The night the river almost left 0:44 Why this river matters 1:44 Too shallow 2:56 Too salty 4:53 Too restless 8:03 The paradox 10:31 No move that wins Next in Sinking Cities: Why Houston Is America's Fastest-Sinking City →    • Why Houston Is America's Fastest-Sinking City   Sources • U.S. EPA: Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin • USDA AMS: Grain Transportation Reports (barge draft, low-water impacts, export share) • U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics: 2022 low-water barge disruptions and rates • USGS Circular 1375: sediment in the Mississippi River system • USGS (2017): Louisiana land area change, 1932–2016 • NASA Earth Observatory: Wax Lake and Atchafalaya deltas • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Old River Control Complex; Morganza Spillway • NPR (2011): Morganza Spillway opening • Science Friday (2023): saltwater wedge Maps and land-loss/flood patterns shown are illustrative. Natural Earth map data. More at https://graspgeo.com #Mississippi #Geography #Engineering