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Sampling the Mississippi River

CEMVM-PA
Published Nov. 6, 2013
Close up look at two of the samplers that will be used on each boat for collecting bed material.

Close up look at two of the samplers that will be used on each boat for collecting bed material.

Project Lead Technical Coordinator Andy Gaines and Lead Physical Scientist Thad Pratt discuss sampling equipment to be used on the boats.

Project Lead Technical Coordinator Andy Gaines and Lead Physical Scientist Thad Pratt discuss sampling equipment to be used on the boats.

Team members meet in Memphis before beginning Mississippi River bed sampling venture.

Team members meet in Memphis before beginning Mississippi River bed sampling venture.

For the third time in almost eight decades, bed material samples are being taken from the Mississippi River. The first was in 1935 and the second was in 1989, but this is the first time it’s an effort being coordinated between different government agencies.

Today, sixteen team members from the U.S. Geological Survey in Little Rock, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District, and the U.S. Army Engineer Research & Development Center in Vicksburg, Miss., who specialize in hydrology, met in Memphis, Tenn., to discuss safety, methods and procedures before beginning the sampling venture.

Analyzing the samples will help in assessing what kind of sediment is on the Mississippi River bed and evaluate how it moves. With coastal Louisiana shrinking, this data will help assess sediment movement as it travels toward the Gulf.

Watch for more as theses team members travel in three boats from Grafton, Ill., to the Gulf of Mexico, over the next two and a half weeks.