Land loss

This article is about land loss due to erosion. For anthropogenic loss of productive land with topsoil, see land consumption.
Summary table of the common physical and anthropogenic causes of coastal land loss.[1]

Land loss is the term typically used to refer to the conversion of coastal land to open water by natural processes and human activities. The term land loss includes coastal erosion. It is a much broader term than coastal erosion because land loss also includes land converted to open water around the edges of estuaries and interior bays and lakes and by subsidence of coastal plain wetlands. The most important causes of land loss in coastal plains are erosion, inadequate sediment supply to beaches and wetlands, subsidence, and global sea level rise. The mixture of processes responsible for most of the land loss will vary according to the specific part of a coastal plain being examined.[1][2] The definition of land loss does not include the loss of coastal lands to agricultural use, urbanization, or other development.[3]

  1. ^ a b Morton, R.A., 2003. An overview of coastal land loss: with emphasis on the Southeastern United States. Open-File report 03-337. US Geological Survey, Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies, St. Petersburg, Florida. 28 pp.
  2. ^ Britsch, L.D. and Kemp III, E.B., 1990. Land loss rates: Mississippi River deltaic plain. Technical Report no. WES/TR/GL-90-2. Geotechnical Lab, Army Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi.
  3. ^ Barras, J.A., P.E. Bourgeois, and L.R. Handley. 1994. Land loss in coastal Louisiana 1956-90. National Biological Survey, National Wetlands Research Center Open File Report 94-01. 4 pp.