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Topography/Geology of Vidalia vs Natchez

Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:07 am
Posted by Kingpenm3
Xanadu
Member since Aug 2011
8970 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:07 am
Can anyone explain why the look of each side of the river at the bridge is so different? Flat farmland on the Louisiana side, cliffs and rolling hills on the Mississippi side. Has the river been cutting into the land on the MS side? Two plates shifting? Someone made a deal, you get the riverboat, we get the cotton?

Posted by Kafka
I am the moral conscience of TD
Member since Jul 2007
142119 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:10 am to
quote:

you get the riverboat, we get the cotton?
If I'd known what would happen, I'd've picked my own riverboat
Posted by TIGRLEE
Northeast Louisiana
Member since Nov 2009
31493 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:11 am to
Vicksburg just like it.

Posted by mkibod1
South of the Donna Dixon Line
Member since Jan 2011
4744 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:14 am to
This may be better suited on the Outdoor Board. You will only get jackass responses here.
Posted by heypaul
The O-T Lounge
Member since May 2008
38122 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:17 am to
:slow clap:
Posted by mauser
Orange Beach
Member since Nov 2008
21651 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:18 am to
They did want a cotton port that would not flood when the Mississippi was high. There were no levees back then. Can you imagine how much water could flood into Vidalia without the levee when the river is really high?
Posted by Paul Allen
Montauk, NY
Member since Nov 2007
75225 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:19 am to
Alluvial sediment?
Posted by LSUballs
RayVegas LA
Member since Feb 2008
37774 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:21 am to
I've heard it was the prevailing winds over a long period of time blowing dust/dirt in the atmosphere from the Great Plains in the west. As the dust crossed over the river, the moisture caused it to drop out on the east side creating the hills.
Posted by LSUballs
RayVegas LA
Member since Feb 2008
37774 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:22 am to
quote:

Alluvial sediment?




What about it?
Posted by Kingpenm3
Xanadu
Member since Aug 2011
8970 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:25 am to
quote:

I've heard it was the prevailing winds over a long period of time blowing dust/dirt in the atmosphere from the Great Plains in the west. As the dust crossed over the river, the moisture caused it to drop out on the east side creating the hills.



Makes sense to me.

I've also was wondering if it is changing at all. That one house/building on the south side of the bridge sure seems to be barely hanging on. Not sure if I could make it a night in that house. A house like that in Colorado built on a mountain of granite, sure. Not sure about that one.
Posted by LSUballs
RayVegas LA
Member since Feb 2008
37774 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:27 am to
I've been amazed at that house since I was a kid. I bet it's a helluva view, but I wouldn't be too keen on staying in it either. They did shoot a bunch of gunite on the side of the bluff several years ago and that seems to have halted the erosion a good bit..
Posted by The Boat
Member since Oct 2008
164288 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:28 am to
It probably has something to do with Ferriday.
Posted by Croacka
Denham Springs
Member since Dec 2008
61441 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:36 am to
quote:

Has the river been cutting into the land on the MS side?



this is how i see it


the LA side was where the river path has been moving from, leaving natural flat lands comprised of sediment

it has been further shifting towards MS and cutting into the hilly lands

of course, this has all been slowed/killed by man made levees and control
Posted by oldcharlie8
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2012
7808 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:39 am to
the river right there is where Vidalia people go to take a piss and mississsippi people catch their fish.
Posted by LSUballs
RayVegas LA
Member since Feb 2008
37774 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:47 am to
After further google, it looks like I was right about the formation of the hills in West Mississippi.

quote:

Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometer size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt[2] that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate. It is usually homogeneous and highly porous and is traversed by vertical capillaries that permit the sediment to fracture and form vertical bluffs.

quote:

The loess along the Mississippi River near Vicksburg, Mississippi consist of three layers. The Peoria Loess, Sicily Island Loess, and Crowley's Ridge Loess accumulated at different periods of time during the Pleistocene. Ancient soils, called paleosols, have developed in the top of the Sicily Island Loess and Crowley's Ridge Loess. The lowermost loess, the Crowley's Ridge Loess, accumulated during the late Illinoian Stage. The middle loess, Sicily Island Loess, accumulated during early Wisconsin Stage. The uppermost loess, the Peoria Loess, in which the modern soil has developed, accumulated during the late Wisconsin Stage. Animal remains include terrestrial gastropods and mastodons.[28]


LINK
This post was edited on 5/20/14 at 8:49 am
Posted by knuckleballer
Myrtle Beach, SC
Member since Jul 2012
916 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:50 am to
Loes bluffs
LINK

It's very errosove silt that was wind blown and accumulated over thousands of years. That's why kudzu was introduced to slow the erosion down. Mudslides happen often in Natchez. They set up retaining walls and other means to slow it down. Vidalia side is flat due to prevailing wind and the river wants to meander west.
This post was edited on 5/20/14 at 8:51 am
Posted by Freebird11
Baton Rouge
Member since May 2011
142 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:54 am to
Historic River Meanders near Natchez

As was stated above, alluvial forces continually cutting against the same aeolian deposits. Must be the ultimate path of least resistance in the area because it has always gone back to historic Natchez each time it changed course.
Posted by Pectus
Internet
Member since Apr 2010
67302 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:57 am to
I think you guys have all the parts, but it can be stated more simply that what you have.

1) all the sediments at one time were silt-sized, and these formed the loess deposits.

2) the river runs through and cuts loess deposits into loess cliffs

3) over time the river meanders making one side of the river flatter (point bar) and the other steeper (cut bank)

4) what we see today is the result of a continuous eastward migration of a meander cutting into the land leaving flat land on the west side. It is now a straight portion of the river.
Posted by knuckleballer
Myrtle Beach, SC
Member since Jul 2012
916 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 9:05 am to
Back in those times they didn't know they could rotate crops to keep the soil fertile. They would plant acerage and then abandon it after the harvest. Planters had plots of land all up and down the river and kept their primary residence in Natchez, the natural choice due to its flood proof elevation. It was "the country club" of old. They all built their show off palaces there and is why there is such a high concentration of fine old homes there.
This post was edited on 5/20/14 at 9:06 am
Posted by Hu_Flung_Pu
Central, LA
Member since Jan 2013
22171 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 9:06 am to
quote:

. That's why kudzu was introduced to slow the erosion down.


My hometown is Vicksburg, that shite is everywhere. I thought it was a normal thing until I learned it wasn't lol
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