Measuring Modern Sedimentation Rates in Caddo Lake (LA,TX) using ¹³⁷Cs Depth Profiles

J. Lisantti
Department of Physics, Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, LA

Caddo Lake is the only naturally formed lake in Texas and it is one of the fifteen wetlands areas in the US identified by the Ramsar Convention as a wetlands of international importance. Modern sedimentation rates were examined by using gamma ray spectroscopy to measure the depth profile of ¹³⁷Cs activity in sample cores. Seven cores were taken from various environments such as the fresh water delta, back bays, midlake channels, near inlet bayous and near the dam. The sedimentation rates vary from 0.56 + 0.03 cm/yr in an old stream channel, 0.22 +0.03 cm/yr in the freshwater delta region and to unobservable amounts in a back bay and near a dam. Future work will involve more measurements on the lake and modeling the data.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90901©2001 GCAGS, Annual Meeting, Shreveport, Louisiana