Foreseeable Flooding and Death of Coastal Wetland Forests

Abstract
Relationships between sedimentation, submergence, and deterioration, of a Mississippi River deltaic-plain coastal wetland forest were investigated. Measured sedimentation rates (0.63 ± 0.35 cm per yr) as determined by 137Cs-dating were considerably less than the rapid increase in water-level (c. 1.36 cm per yr). Transplanted seedlings of Quercus lyrata (Overcup Oak) and of Taxodium distichum (Bald Cypress) survived only on the most elevated natural ridge in this swamp-forest.