Recent Geomorphic History of the Pontchartrain Basin, Louisiana. Roger Thomas Saucier Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1968 Recent Geomorphic History of the Pontchartrain Basin, Louisiana. Roger Thomas Saucier Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Saucier, Roger Thomas, "Recent Geomorphic History of the Pontchartrain Basin, Louisiana." (1968). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 1418. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/1418 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 68-10,760 SAUCIER, Roger Thomas, 1935- RECENT GEOMORPHIC HISTORY OF THE PONTCHARTRAIN BASIN, LOUISIANA. Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1968 G eography University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan RECENT GEOMORPHIC HISTORY OF THE PGNTCHARTRAIN BASIN, LOUISIANA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology t>y Roger Thomas Saucier B.A., Louisiana State University, 1957 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1958 January, 1968 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This study was conducted by the Coastal Studies Institute of Louisiana State University under the auspices of the Office of Naval Research, Contract N onr 1575 (03 )> Task Order NR 388 002. Field work was accomplished by Mr. Roger T. Saucier under the direction of Dr. Richard J. Russell, Project Director and Dr. James P. Morgan, Field Supervisor. The assistance and direction of Dr. William G. Mclntire, Associate Professor of Geography and Dr. Fred B. Kniffen, Head, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, in the preparation of this graduate thesis have been in valuable. For technical assistance in the field of archaeology, the writer is indebted to Dr. Mclntire and to Dr. William G. Haag, Professor of Anthropology, Louisiana State University. Appreciation is expressed for critical reading of the completed manuscript by Dr. H. N. Fisk, Humble Oil and Refining Company and Dr. H. A. Bernard, Shell Development Company. Sincere appreciation is acknowledged for the field assistance of Sherwood M. Gagliano, Ned J. Boudreaux, and C. Edward Howard. Additional thanks are extended to Mr. Gagliano for his assistance in the laboratory and for the personal collections of artifacts from Indian sites which he made available for study. Radiocarbon assays of numerous samples of geologic and archaeo- logic interest were achieved through the courtesy of Dr. Harold N. Fisk and the personnel of the Exploration Department, Humble Oil and Refining Co., Houston, Texas. Thanks must be extended to the following ii people who cooperated in supplying maps, aerial photographs, and the logs of hundreds of borings which greatly facilitated the accomplish ment of the study: Dr. Charles R. Kolb and Dr. Jack R. Van Lopik, U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Missis sippi; Mr. George T. Cardwell, U. S. Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Mr. H. A. Huesmann and Mr. A. M. McNeil, U. S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Second District Office, New Orleans, Louisiana; Mr. Homer Baugh and Mr. H. L. Lehmann, Louisiana Department of Highways, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Mr. Charles Bragg, Eustis Engineering Company, New Orleans, Louisiana; Mr. D. F. Richards, Palmer and Baker Engineers, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana; Mr. H. A. Meyer, R. B. Potashnick Co., New Orleans, Louisiana; Dr. R. A. Steinmayer, New Orleans, Louisiana; Mr. Maurice Steiner, Louisiana Power & Light Co., New Orleans, Louisi ana; Mr. Richard Snow, Raymond Concrete Pile Co., Metairie, Louisiana; Mr. Herbert Waguespack, New Orleans East, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana; Mr. J. K. Mayer, Consultant Engineer, New Orleans, Louisiana; Mr. A. L. Willoz, Orleans Levee Board, New Orleans, Louisiana; Mr. Gayden Derick- son, Shell Oil Co., Norco, Louisiana; Mr. L. J. Capozzoli, Jr., Etco Engineers & Assoc., Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Mr. E. A. Johnson, Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago, Illinois. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT............................................. ii LIST OF TABLES ............................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES............................................. viii ABSTRACT................................................... xiii INTRODUCTION................................................ 1 GENERAL SETTING............................................. 5 GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY.................................. 7 SEDIMENTS .............................................. 9 CLIMATE .............................................. 11 HYDROGRAPHY............................................ 13 Tides and Currents ................................. 15 SUBSIDENCE AND SEA LEVEL R I S E ................................ 19 PHYSIOGRAPHY................................................ 27 THE PRAIRIE TERRACE ........................-............ 27 NATURAL LEVEES......................................... 30 INTER-LEVEE BASINS..................................... 33 Swamps ........... 3^ Marshes ................................. 36 BEACHES................................................ kl PREHISTORIC OCCUPANCE....................................... 1^7 TYPES OF SITES ....................................... W LOCATION OF S I T E S...................................... 51 CHRONOLOGY........... 55 SITES AND PHYSIOGRAPHY.................................. 58 iv GEOMCRPHIC HISTORY.......................................... 6l THE BURIED PRAIRIE SURFACE.............................. 6l Original Characteristics .............. 6l Downwarping and Faulting ........................... 62 Entrenchment ...................................... 624- Physical Characteristics ..................... ..... 67 POSTGLACIAL SEA LEVEL R I S E .............................. 68 THE PQNTCHARTRAIN MBAYMENT ............................. 71 Extent and Age .................................... 71 The Miltons Island Beach T r e n d ...................... 75 The Pine Island Beach T r e n d ............ 80 Origin of the Beach Tre n d s ................... 83 INITIAL MISSISSIPPI RIVER SEDIMENTATION.................. 86 Sediments ..................................... 87 Levee Systems ..................................... 87 Characteristics ............................... 88 Distribution .................................. 90 Paleogeography........................ 92 Indian Sites ....................... ............... 95 Age and Correlation ................................ 97 DETERIORATION OF THE D E L T A .............................. 101 THE ST. BERNARD DELTA ................................... 105 Levee Systems ........................ 106 Distributaries ............................ 106 Trunk Stream .............................. 109 Influence of Existing Physiography ............. ill Age and Correlation ............. 112 v Paleogeography.................................... 116 Indian Sites ................. •............... 119 THE BAYOU MANCHAC-NEW RIVER DISTRIBUTARIES............... 121 DEVEL0R4ENT OF THE MODERN L A K E S ......................... 12^ Marksville Period. Conditions ........... «•.......... 125 Troyvllle-Coles Creek Period. Conditions ............. 128 Development of the Modern River Channel .. • ..... 130 Paleogeography................................ 131 PlaqLuemine-Historic Period to the Present ........... 135 Indian Sites .................................. 139 Mississippi River Crevasses .................... 137 Modern Shoreline Retreat ...................... 1 k6 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................... 162 VITA ....................................................... 167 vi LIST OP TABLES Page Table I Vegetation types of the Pontchartrain B a s i n ........ 15^ Table II Radiocarbon dates ................................ 155 Table III Summary of pottery collection analyses ............. l6l vii LIST OF FIGURES Page Fig. 1 Map showing the location of the Pontchartrain Basin and approximate limits of the Btudy a r e a ........... 2 Fig. 2 - Index map of the Pontchartrain Basin ................ 6 Fig. 3 Late Quaternary events and chronology, Louisiana Gulf Coast .................................... 8 Fig. ^ a. Dutch Bayou, a typical swamp drainage channel near Lake Maurepas .................................... 17 h. Hinge line or contact between the pine-covered Prairie terrace and the Recent marsh near Slidell .... 17 c. Dead trees surviving as the only indication of an essentially buried natural levee system in eastern Orleans P a r i s h................................... 17 d. Live oaks and mixed-hardwoods on a natural levee of the Bayou Sauvage distributary..................... 17 e. Cypress and water tupelo trees in a swamp near Laplace ..................................... 17 f . Severely cut-over cypress swamp near Pass Manchac ..... 17 Fig. 5 Fault zones in the Pontchartrain Basin, including estimated minimum amounts of displacement on the' Prairie surface ................................... 21 viii Fig. 6 Average subsidence