query: where does the mississippi river empty into the gulf of mexico

pos: Mississippi River Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second longest river of the United States and the chief river of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. Its source is Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and it flows generally south for to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is ,

pos: Mississippi River Delta play in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Prior to the extensive leveeing of the Mississippi River that began in the 1930s, the river avulsed its course in search of a shorter route to the Gulf of Mexico approximately every 1,000–1,500 years. The prehistoric and historic delta lobes of the Mississippi River Delta have influenced the formation of the Louisiana coastline and led to the creation of over 4 million acres of coastal wetlands. As the river changed course, the natural flow of freshwater and sediment changed as well, resulting in periods of land building and land loss in different areas

pos: Mississippi River Delta U.S. The coastal area is the nation's largest drainage basin and drains about 41% of the contiguous United States into the Gulf of Mexico at an average rate of 470,000 cubic feet per second. The modern Mississippi River Delta formed over the last approximately 7,000 years as the Mississippi River deposited sand, clay and silt along its banks and in adjacent basins. The Mississippi River Delta is a river-dominated delta system, influenced by the largest river in North America. The shape of the current birdfoot delta reflects the dominance the river exudes over the other hydrologic and geologic processes at

pos: Wax Lake and as a model for delta regrowth in the Mississippi River Delta region in order to restore habitat and protect against storm surge. Wax Lake Wax Lake was a lake in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana that was converted into an outlet channel to divert water from the Atchafalaya River to the Gulf of Mexico. The Wax Lake outlet is an artificial channel that was created by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1942 to divert 30 percent of the flow from the Atchafalaya River to the Gulf of Mexico and reduce flood stages at Morgan City, Louisiana. The

pos: Mississippi River System Louisiana. The Red River is home to many oil fields with oil and gas production being one of the river's major aspects. The Mississippi River Delta was created from thousands of years of sand, clay and organic material being deposited by the Mississippi River into the northern parts of the Gulf of Mexico. The delta is home to massive amounts of wildlife, and attributed to the U.S. success as a superpower because of the economic development the delta has provided for the country. Over the last three centuries, the delta has continuously collapsed, due to human alterations of the river

pos: Mississippi River Delta Horizon oil spill of 2010 and ensures that 80 percent of the civil Clean Water Act fines paid by BP and the other responsible parties are directed to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council and five Gulf Coast states to use for environmental and economic restoration. Mississippi River Delta The Mississippi River Delta region is a 3-million-acre (12,000 km) area of land that stretches from Vermilion Bay on the west, to the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico on the southeastern coast of Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana coastal plain, one of the largest areas of coastal

pos: Whale shark its long lifespan and late maturation. It is listed, along with six other species of sharks, under the CMS Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks. In 1998, the Philippines banned all fishing, selling, importing, and exporting of whale sharks for commercial purposes, followed by India in May 2001, and Taiwan in May 2007. In 2010, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill resulted in of oil flowing into an area south of the Mississippi River Delta, where one-third of all whale shark sightings in the northern part of the gulf have occurred in recent years. Sightings confirmed that

pos: Missouri River damming and channeling the river has kept it from reaching its natural sediment sources along most of its course. Reservoirs along the Missouri trap roughly of sediment each year. Despite this, the river still transports more than half the total silt that empties into the Gulf of Mexico; the Mississippi River Delta, formed by sediment deposits at the mouth of the Mississippi, constitutes a majority of sediments carried by the Missouri. Archaeological evidence, especially in Missouri, suggests that human beings first inhabited the watershed of the Missouri River between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene.

pos: South Pass Light South Pass Light The South Pass Light, also known as the Port Eads Lighthouse South Point Light, or Gordon's Island Light, are a pair of lighthouses located on Gordon's Island at South Pass, in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana (USA), one of the primary entrances to the Mississippi River Delta from the Gulf of Mexico. The light station was established in 1831 and is still active. In 1829, the U.S. Congress appropriated $40,000 for the construction for two lighthouse at South Pass and Southwest Pass, the two principal entrances to the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico. The South Pass light

pos: Mississippi River Delta of factors. Some of the causes of delta land loss stem from natural causes, like hurricanes and other effects of climate change. However, the Mississippi River Delta also suffers from a lack of sedimentation due to the levee systems, navigation canals and other man-made structures within the region. These structures have proven to be detrimental to the natural land-building power of the river as many of the structures slow or eliminate the river's flow into certain areas, increasing salt-water intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico into freshwater wetlands. The salt water weakens these freshwater ecosystems, making them more vulnerable to

neg: Mississippi River River. Fresh river water flowing from the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico does not mix into the salt water immediately. The images from NASA's MODIS (to the right) show a large plume of fresh water, which appears as a dark ribbon against the lighter-blue surrounding waters. These images demonstrate that the plume did not mix with the surrounding sea water immediately. Instead, it stayed intact as it flowed through the Gulf of Mexico, into the Straits of Florida, and entered the Gulf Stream. The Mississippi River water rounded the tip of Florida and traveled up the southeast coast to

neg: Gulf of Mexico numerous bays and smaller inlets. A number of rivers empty into the gulf, most notably the Mississippi River and Rio Grande in the northern gulf, and the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers in the southern gulf. The land that forms the gulf's coast, including many long, narrow barrier islands, is almost uniformly low-lying and is characterized by marshes and swamps as well as stretches of sandy beach. The Gulf of Mexico is an excellent example of a passive margin. The continental shelf is quite wide at most points along the coast, most notably at the Florida and Yucatán Peninsulas. The shelf

neg: Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana) meets the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The discharge flows eastward past Grand Island through St. Joe Pass and into the Mississippi Sound. The West Pearl River flows into The Rigolets, thence into Lake Borgne. Both discharges eventually reach the Gulf of Mexico. The Pearl River serves as the boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana in its lower reach near the Gulf of Mexico. Pearl River provides the receiving waters for the Savanna Street Sewage Treatment Plant in Jackson, Mississippi. which lies about from the mouth of the river. The Pearl passes near or through the following towns (in order, north to south):

neg: Western United States the Rocky Mountains is the Great Plains, the western portions (for example, the eastern half of Colorado) of which are generally considered to be part of the western United States. The West has several long rivers that empty into the Pacific Ocean, while the eastern rivers run into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River forms the easternmost possible boundary for the West today. The Missouri River, a tributary of the Mississippi, flows from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains eastward across the Great Plains, a vast grassy plateau, before sloping gradually down to the forests and hence to the

neg: Mississippi River water flows separately into the Gulf of Mexico through the Atchafalaya River. The Mississippi River has the world's fourth-largest drainage basin ("watershed" or "catchment"). The basin covers more than , including all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The drainage basin empties into the Gulf of Mexico, part of the Atlantic Ocean. The total catchment of the Mississippi River covers nearly 40% of the landmass of the continental United States. The highest point within the watershed is also the highest point of the Rocky Mountains, Mount Elbert at . In the United States, the Mississippi River

neg: Mississippi Alluvial Plain (ecoregion) Mississippi Alluvial Plain (ecoregion) The Mississippi Alluvial Plain is a Level III ecoregion designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in seven U.S. states, though predominantly in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It parallels the Mississippi River from the Midwestern United States to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi Alluvial Plain ecoregion has been subdivided into fifteen Level IV ecoregions. The Mississippi Alluvial Plain extends along the Mississippi River from the confluence of the Ohio River and Mississippi River southward to the Gulf of Mexico; temperatures and annual average precipitation increase toward the south. It is a broad, nearly level, agriculturally-dominated

neg: Mississippi River drains the majority of the area between the crest of the Rocky Mountains and the crest of the Appalachian Mountains, except for various regions drained to Hudson Bay by the Red River of the North; to the Atlantic Ocean by the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River; and to the Gulf of Mexico by the Rio Grande, the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, the Chattahoochee and Appalachicola rivers, and various smaller coastal waterways along the Gulf. The Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico about downstream from New Orleans. Measurements of the length of the Mississippi from Lake Itasca

neg: Pascagoula River Pascagoula River The Pascagoula River is a river, about 80 miles (130 km) long, in southeastern Mississippi in the United States. The river drains an area of about 8,800 square miles (23,000 km²) and flows into Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico. The Pascagoula River Basin is managed by the Pat Harrison Waterway District. It is significant as the only unaffected (or nearly so) river with a discharge of over per year flowing from the United States into the Gulf of Mexico, and indeed the only one in the Cfa Köppen climate classification zone anywhere in the world, with

neg: Mississippi-class battleship into 1910, she alternated between the waters off New England and southern waters, including the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, along with a voyage in the Mississippi River and war games out of Guantanamo Bay. In late 1910, she sailed across the Atlantic with the Third Division of the Atlantic Fleet to Gravesend Bay, England, and then to Brest, France, returning to Guantanamo Bay in early 1911. After routine service with the Atlantic Fleet and in Cuban waters, "Idaho" toured Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River in 1911, visiting many ports on the Mississippi River. In February 1913,

neg: Mississippi River Mississippi. The widest point of the Mississippi River is in the Lower Mississippi portion where it exceeds in width in several places. Deliberate water diversion at the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana allows the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana to be a major distributary of the Mississippi River, with 30% of the Mississippi flowing to the Gulf of Mexico by this route, rather than continuing down the Mississippi's current channel past Baton Rouge and New Orleans on a longer route to the Gulf. Although the Red River is commonly thought to be a tributary, it is actually not, because its

neg: New Year's Eve 1963 snowstorm records in Alabama. A shortwave in the southern stream of the Westerlies closed off as it approached the central United States Gulf of Mexico coastline. A surface cyclone formed in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, slowly deepening as it moved north-northeast across the eastern Gulf. Cold air was residing across the Deep South in advance of this system, and as the surface cyclone tracked across northern Florida, heavy snowfall fell in its comma head from the Mouth of the Mississippi River northeast through Mississippi and Alabama into Tennessee, where the snow persisted into January 1. The cyclone ultimately moved along

neg: River mile of locating any feature along the river relative to its distance from the mouth, when measured along the course (or navigable channel) of the river. River mile zero may not be exactly at the mouth. For example, the Willamette River (which discharges into the Columbia River) has its river mile zero at the edge of the navigable channel in the Columbia, some beyond the mouth. Also, the river mile zero for the Lower Mississippi River is located at Head of Passes, where the main stem of the Mississippi splits into three major branches before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

neg: Leaf River (Mississippi) Leaf River (Mississippi) The Leaf River is a river, about 180 mi (290 km) long, in southern Mississippi in the United States. It is a principal tributary of the Pascagoula River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Leaf River rises in the Bienville National Forest in southwestern Scott County and flows initially southward through eastern Smith, northeastern Covington, western Jones and northern Forrest Counties to Hattiesburg, where it collects the Bouie River. Below Hattiesburg, the river turns southeastward and flows through central Perry and southwestern Greene Counties, skirting the edge of the De Soto National Forest, into northern

neg: French colonization of the Americas 17, 1673, explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette began exploring the Mississippi River, known to the Sioux as "does Tongo," or to the Miami-Illinois as " missisipioui" ("the great river"). They reached the mouth of the Arkansas and then up the river, after learning that it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico and not to the California Sea (Pacific Ocean). In 1682, the Normand Cavelier de la Salle and the Italian Henri de Tonti came down the Mississippi to its Delta. They left from Fort Crevecoeur on the Illinois River, along with 23 French and 18 Native Americans. In April

neg: Ethanol fuel in the United States flows mainly stem from corn, which as of 2010 was the major source of total nitrogen loading to the Mississippi River. Several studies found that corn ethanol production contributed to the worsening of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone. The nitrogen leached into the Mississippi River and out into the Gulf, where it fed giant algae blooms. As the algae died, it settled to the ocean floor and decayed, consuming oxygen and suffocating marine life, causing hypoxia. This oxygen depletion killed shrimp, crabs, worms and anything else that could not escape, and affected important shrimp fishing grounds. Some environmentalists, such

neg: Louisiana divided into two parts, the uplands of the north, and the alluvial along the coast. The alluvial region includes low swamp lands, coastal marshlands and beaches, and barrier islands that cover about . This area lies principally along the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River, which traverses the state from north to south for a distance of about ) and empties into the Gulf of Mexico; the Red River; the Ouachita River and its branches; and other minor streams (some of which are called bayous). The breadth of the alluvial region along the Mississippi is from 10 to 60

neg: Mississippi River–Gulf Outlet Canal Mississippi River–Gulf Outlet Canal The Mississippi River – Gulf Outlet Canal (abbreviated as MRGO or MR-GO) is a channel constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers at the direction of Congress in the mid-20th century that provided a shorter route between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans' inner harbor Industrial Canal via the Intracoastal Waterway. In 2005, although disputed by the Corps of Engineers, the MRGO channeled Hurricane Katrina's storm surge into the heart of Greater New Orleans, contributing significantly to the subsequent multiple engineering failures experienced by the region's hurricane protection network. In the aftermath the

neg: Pipestone Creek (Big Sioux River tributary) 81st Street in Minnesota and 236th A Street in South Dakota. It does not travel far into South Dakota, but loops back into Minnesota, flowing into Split Rock Creek within a mile of the state line, this confluence about 3 miles north of Sherman, South Dakota, also being 3 miles south of Jasper, Minnesota. Split Rock Creek itself is a tributary of the Big Sioux River, which in turn flows via the Missouri River and Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The creek was named for deposits of pipestone along its course. Pipestone Creek (Big Sioux River tributary) Pipestone

neg: Mississippi River Pilot Docking Masters of Louisiana are pilots who deal strictly with US Flagged vessels and operate from Southwest Pass to Baton Rouge, the longest transit of the 4 pilot associations in the river. "See" "Out of the River", MSNBC travelogue on Pilottown Mississippi River Pilot A Mississippi River Pilot is responsible for guiding ships along the Mississippi River, including across the bar from the Gulf of Mexico, through the shifting sandbars and passages at the mouth, and upriver to New Orleans and Baton Rouge. On the Lower Mississippi River, the Associated Branch Pilots supplies River Pilots between the Gulf of Mexico

neg: Mississippi River Pilot Mississippi River Pilot A Mississippi River Pilot is responsible for guiding ships along the Mississippi River, including across the bar from the Gulf of Mexico, through the shifting sandbars and passages at the mouth, and upriver to New Orleans and Baton Rouge. On the Lower Mississippi River, the Associated Branch Pilots supplies River Pilots between the Gulf of Mexico and Pilottown, Louisiana. The Crescent River Port Pilots Association supplies River Pilots between Pilottown and New Orleans, Louisiana, and the New Orleans-Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots Association supplies River Pilots between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Associated Federal Pilots and

neg: Environmental impact of Mardi Gras beads times over. This threatens parade-goers with exposure to high amounts of lead, especially younger children that could potentially put the beads in their mouths. Beads can accidentally enter storm drains, which empty into Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico. The metals in the beads put fish and other marine lifeforms at risk for lead and cadmium poisoning. Exposure to these metals in water causes high mortality rates and increased biomass of these metals among fish species within a month of exposure. Seafood is prevalent in the south Louisiana diet, most of which is

neg: La Salle expeditions explored the upper Mississippi Valley, including the area where it was joined by the Ohio River.[10] La Salle later participated in an expedition to follow the northern shore of Lake Erie across Lake Huron to Michilimackinac, where Lake Michigan empties into Lake Huron. La Salle named the entire area of the Mississippi watershed Louisiana after king Louis XIV of France. La Salle later followed up the discovery and sailed down the river all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. His trip made him the first European to travel the length of the Mississippi, but it had been visited by

neg: Head of Passes Head of Passes Head of Passes is where the main stem of the Mississippi River branches off into three distinct directions at its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico: Southwest Pass (west), Pass A Loutre (east) and South Pass (centre). They are part of the "Bird's Foot Delta", the youngest lobe of the evolving Mississippi River Delta. The "Head of Passes" is considered to be the location of the mouth of the Mississippi River. The US Army Corps of Engineers maintains a 45-foot (13.7 m) shipping channel from the mouth of Southwest Pass—20 miles (32 km) downriver from the Head—up

neg: Gulf Coastal Plain the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in Mexico. On the north, it extends to the Ouachita Highlands of the Interior Low Plateaus and the southern Appalachian Mountains. Its northernmost extent is along the Mississippi embayment (Mississippi Alluvial Valley) as far north as the southern tip of Illinois. To the east the Gulf coastal plain meets the South Atlantic Coastal Plain in southern Georgia along the basin divide between the rivers flowing into the Gulf and those flowing to the Atlantic and south along the Apalachicola River through the Florida panhandle. The flat to

neg: Mississippi River Mississippi River and become its main channel to the Gulf of Mexico, leaving New Orleans on a side channel. As a result, the U.S. Congress authorized a project called the Old River Control Structure, which has prevented the Mississippi River from leaving its current channel that drains into the Gulf via New Orleans. Because the large scale of high-energy water flow threatened to damage the structure, an auxiliary flow control station was built adjacent to the standing control station. This $300 million project was completed in 1986 by the Corps of Engineers. Beginning in the 1970s, the Corps applied hydrological

neg: Upper Mississippi River Upper Mississippi River The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of Cairo, Illinois, United States. From the headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minnesota, the river flows approximately 2000 kilometers (1250 mi) to Cairo, where it is joined by the Ohio River to form the Lower Mississippi River. In terms of geologic and hydrographic history, the Upper Mississippi east and south of Fort Snelling is a portion of the now-extinct Glacial River Warren which carved the valley of the Minnesota River, permitting the immense Glacial Lake Agassiz to join the world's oceans at the Gulf of Mexico.

neg: Ingalls Shipbuilding Ingalls Shipbuilding Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 employees, the second largest private employer in Mississippi with WalMart being the largest with 24,000 employees. In 1938, Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation was founded by Robert Ingersoll Ingalls, Sr. (1882–1951) of Birmingham, Alabama, on the East Bank of the Pascagoula River in Mississippi. Ingalls was located where the Pascagoula River runs into the Gulf of Mexico. It started out building commercial ships

neg: Tritium with the prompt-flow component being around 10% (these results are due to the series of dams in the area of the Missouri River). As for the mass flux of tritium through the main stem of the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico, data indicated that approximately 780 grams of tritium has flowed out of the River and into the Gulf between 1961 and 1997. And current fluxes through the Mississippi River are about 1 to 2 grams per year as opposed to the pre-bomb period fluxes of roughly 0.4 grams per year. Tritium was first produced in 1934 from

neg: USS Orvetta (1861) Farragut's deep draft ships in their attack on New Orleans, "Orvetta" sailed down the Atlantic coast, across the Gulf of Mexico, and into the Mississippi River through Pass a l'Outre below Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson, 18 April 1862. "Orvetta" and her sister schooners opened fire and maintained the barrage on the Confederate fortifications until the 24th when Farragut's salt water ships passed the forts. The next day New Orleans, Louisiana, surrendered. The schooner subsequently supported operations in the Mississippi River, especially against Vicksburg and served in the Gulf of Mexico. After the war she decommissioned at New York

neg: Scaly sand darter the Pearl, Coastal, and Pascagoula River drainages of the Gulf of Mexico Basin. They are also widely distributed in the Big Black drainage and the Bayou Pierre system of the lower Mississippi South drainage. Scaly sand darters are also found in the Hatchie River system of Mississippi. Sightings have been made in the western tributaries of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. The species is also found from western Kentucky and southeastern Missouri south to southern Mississippi and west to eastern Oklahoma and Texas, and in drainage basins of the Gulf of Mexico from the Pascagoula River

neg: Mississippi River bank revetments and soil erosion control programs in the areas drained by them. Over geologic time, the Mississippi River has experienced numerous large and small changes to its main course, as well as additions, deletions, and other changes among its numerous tributaries, and the lower Mississippi River has used different pathways as its main channel to the Gulf of Mexico across the delta region. Through a natural process known as avulsion or delta switching, the lower Mississippi River has shifted its final course to the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico every thousand years or so. This occurs because the

neg: Skipjack shad was much more abundant in the Upper Mississippi River basin before it was impounded. Currently, the skipjack shad is most abundant in the Upper Mississippi River below the mouth of the Ohio River. They are known as an "early-run" species as they migrate to spawn in the early spring. The skipjack shad is restricted to the Gulf of Mexico and its drainage, in the United States. The Gulf of Mexico drainage includes the ACF (Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint River) basin, the Mississippi basin, and the Rio Grande basin. Records indicate that this species was more abundant in the upper Mississippi River before it

neg: Missouri River linger in the area. In addition, they later learned that the Mississippi drained into the Gulf of Mexico and not the Pacific as they had originally presumed; the expedition turned back about short of the Gulf at the confluence of the Arkansas River with the Mississippi. In 1682, France expanded its territorial claims in North America to include land on the western side of the Mississippi River, which included the lower portion of the Missouri. However, the Missouri itself remained formally unexplored until Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont commanded an expedition in 1714 that reached at least as far

neg: Mississippi River System like the Allegheny, Tennessee, and Wabash rivers are considered important tributaries to the Mississippi system. Before the Mississippi River reaches the Gulf of Mexico, it runs into its distributary, the Atchafalaya River. From the perspective of modern commercial navigation, the system includes the above as well as navigable inland waterways which are connected by artificial means. Important connecting waterways include the Illinois Waterway, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. This system of waterways is maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with a project depth of between 9 and 12 feet (2.7 – 3.7 m) to accommodate

neg: Mississippi River System nearby oceans, causing constant flooding. Around two million years ago, glaciers up to 6,500 feet thick continued to disturb the environment. The receding formation of glaciers 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, left large amounts of water in North America, which created the rivers. The Mississippi River stemmed from Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota where it was only a tiny outlet stream. It worked its way 2,350 miles south to the Gulf of Mexico. Today, the Mississippi River is connected to hundreds of tributaries making up the Mississippi River System. The Mississippi River and its

neg: Distributary America an anabranch is called a "braided stream". In Louisiana, the Atchafalaya River is an important distributary of the Mississippi River. Because the Atchafalaya takes a steeper route to the Gulf of Mexico than the main channel, over several decades it has captured more and more of the Mississippi's flow, after the Mississippi meandered into the Red River of the South. The Old River Control Structure, a dam which regulates the outflow from the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya, was completed in 1963. It is intended to prevent the Atchafalaya from capturing the main flow of the Mississippi and stranding the

neg: Lower Mississippi water resource region HUCs 0801 through 0809. This region includes the drainage within the United States of: (a) the Mississippi River below its confluence with the Ohio River, excluding the Arkansas, Red, and White River basins above the points of highest backwater effect of the Mississippi River in those basins; and (b) coastal streams that ultimately discharge into the Gulf of Mexico from the Pearl River Basin boundary to the Sabine River and Sabine Lake drainage boundary. Includes parts of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. Lower Mississippi water resource region The Lower Mississippi water resource region is one of 21 major

neg: Rio Grande National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, one in northern New Mexico and the other in Texas, at Big Bend National Park. In mid-2001, a -wide sandbar formed at the mouth of the river, marking the first time in recorded history that the Rio Grande failed to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The sandbar was dredged, but reformed almost immediately. Spring rains the following year flushed the reformed sandbar out to sea, but it returned in mid-2002. By late 2003, the river once again reached the Gulf. The United States and Mexico share the water of the river under a

neg: Mississippi Gulf Coast Mississippi Gulf Coast The Mississippi Gulf Coast, also known as the Mississippi Gulf Coast region, or simply The Coast, is the area of southern Mississippi along the Mississippi Sound along the Gulf Of Mexico. The term has traditionally referred to the three counties that lie directly on the Mississippi Sound that meet up with the Gulf of Mexico within the state: Hancock County, Harrison County, and Jackson County. The U. S. Census Bureau divided the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) for the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2003, which previously had been the three coastal counties, into two MSAs that included two

neg: Bouie River Bouie River The Bouie River, sometimes known as the Bowie River, is a tributary of the Leaf River, long, in southern Mississippi in the United States. Via the Leaf River, it is part of the watershed of the Pascagoula River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Bouie rises in southern Simpson County and flows generally southeastwardly through Jefferson Davis and Covington Counties, forming part of the boundary between the two, and into northwestern Forrest County, where it flows into the Leaf River at Hattiesburg. The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "Bouie River" as the stream's

neg: Mississippi River System shortens the distance to the Gulf of Mexico, also saving companies time and money. The Army Corps of Engineers polices the flow of the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya River by only allowing 30% of the flow to enter into the river. The river system has always played a pivotal role in the lives of those who inhabit the surrounding area. Several different Native American groups lived in the surrounding area, including the Ojibwa, Winnebago, Fox and Choctaw Indians. The abundance of resources and overall size attracted these individuals to settle near the water. They named the Mississippi River. It

neg: Fort Winnebago Surgeon's Quarters as a historic house museum with 19th century period furnishings and fort artifacts. "The Portage" was a land bridge just 1 1/4 miles wide separating waterways that flow into the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. The Fox River flows north toward Green Bay, providing access to the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and the Atlantic Ocean. The Wisconsin River flows southwest to the Mississippi River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The area around Portage was an early travel route for Native Americans. Centuries before the white men arrived, they

neg: Bouie River official name in 1990. According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known as: Bouie River The Bouie River, sometimes known as the Bowie River, is a tributary of the Leaf River, long, in southern Mississippi in the United States. Via the Leaf River, it is part of the watershed of the Pascagoula River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Bouie rises in southern Simpson County and flows generally southeastwardly through Jefferson Davis and Covington Counties, forming part of the boundary between the two, and into northwestern Forrest County, where it flows into the Leaf

neg: Mississippi River Watershed Conservation Programs into the Gulf of Mexico causing an outbreak of algae growth. The excess algae create an area where the dissolved oxygen concentration is very low in the bottom waters. Many organisms cannot tolerate low-oxygen levels and either leave the area or become weakened or die from lack of oxygen. A majority of the nutrient loadings originate from the draining of agricultural lands north of the Ohio River in the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, southern Minnesota, and Ohio. Nitrates and Phosphorus are the two main contaminants that pollute the Mississippi River Watershed. This nutrient pollution comes from a surplus of

neg: Mobile Bay Mobile Bay Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the bay, making it an estuary. Several smaller rivers also empty into the bay: Dog River, Deer River, and Fowl River on the western side of the bay, and Fish River on the eastern side. Mobile Bay is the fourth largest estuary in

neg: Mississippi River channel if flood-control structures are overtopped or heavily damaged during a severe flood. Failure of the Old River Control Structure, the Morganza Spillway, or nearby levees would likely re-route the main channel of the Mississippi through Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin and down the Atchafalaya River to reach the Gulf of Mexico south of Morgan City in southern Louisiana. This route provides a more direct path to the Gulf of Mexico than the present Mississippi River channel through Baton Rouge and New Orleans. While the risk of such a diversion is present during any major flood event, such a change has so

neg: Head of Passes measured. Algiers Point, for instance, is at mile 94.6 AHP (above Head of Passes). Cairo, Illinois, is at mile 953.8 AHP. Mileages downstream from Head of Passes are labelled BHP (below Head of Passes). Head of Passes Head of Passes is where the main stem of the Mississippi River branches off into three distinct directions at its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico: Southwest Pass (west), Pass A Loutre (east) and South Pass (centre). They are part of the "Bird's Foot Delta", the youngest lobe of the evolving Mississippi River Delta. The "Head of Passes" is considered to be the

neg: MV Delta Mariner Ruslan from the manufacturer to the launch site. Completed rocket stages and other components are transported by truck approximately from the Decatur manufacturing facility to the dock on the Tennessee River and driven directly onto the ship. From Decatur, "Delta Mariner" uses two routes to the Gulf of Mexico. The first route takes the vessel downstream on the Tennessee River to the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway, south to the Tombigbee River, and into Mobile Bay and the Gulf, a distance of about . The current route takes the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers downstream, south on the Mississippi River, and into the Gulf,

neg: History of Christianity in the United States religious and commercial aims, established a foothold on the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast. With its first settlements, France lay claim to a vast region of North America and set out to establish a commercial empire and French nation stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. The French colony of Louisiana originally claimed all the land on both sides of the Mississippi River and the lands that drained into it. The following present day states were part of the then vast tract of Louisiana: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota,

neg: Mississippi River–Gulf Outlet Canal MRGO was first envisioned early in the 20th century as a way to provide shipping with a shorter route to the Gulf of Mexico. The Port of New Orleans felt increasingly disadvantaged by the length of time oceangoing vessels needed to navigate the twists and turns of the Mississippi River from the Gulf to the port's wharfs, versus the much closer proximity to open water offered by its emerging competitors. The modern Port of Houston, in particular, came into being as a consequence of the completion of the Houston Ship Channel in 1914. New Orleans' initial response debuted in 1923,

neg: Dead zone (ecology) 25% of all the nitrate which the Mississippi River delivers to the Gulf of Mexico. Export from the Raccoon River Watershed is among the highest in the United States with annual yields at 26.1 kg/ha/year which ranked as the highest loss of nitrate out of 42 Mississippi subwatersheds evaluated for a Gulf of Mexico hypoxia report. In 2012, Iowa introduced the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy which, "The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy is a science and technology-based framework to assess and reduce nutrients to Iowa waters and the Gulf of Mexico. It is designed to direct efforts to reduce nutrients in

neg: Mississippi Alluvial Plain (ecoregion) to help moderate flooding and tidal inundation during storm events. Lack of sediment input, delta erosion, land subsidence, and rising sea levels threaten the region. The ecoregion covers , entirely within Louisiana. Mississippi Alluvial Plain (ecoregion) The Mississippi Alluvial Plain is a Level III ecoregion designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in seven U.S. states, though predominantly in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It parallels the Mississippi River from the Midwestern United States to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi Alluvial Plain ecoregion has been subdivided into fifteen Level IV ecoregions. The Mississippi Alluvial Plain extends along the Mississippi River

neg: Two Ocean Pass Two Ocean Pass Two Ocean Pass is a mountain pass on North America's Continental Divide, in the Teton Wilderness, which is part of Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest. The pass is notable for Parting of the Waters, where one stream, North Two Ocean Creek, splits into two distributaries, Pacific Creek and Atlantic Creek, at Parting of the Waters National Natural Landmark. These two creeks ultimately flow into their respective oceans. Atlantic Creek water eventually flows into the Yellowstone River and empties into the Gulf of Mexico via the Missouri River and Mississippi River. Pacific Creek water eventually flows into the Snake

neg: Clear chub the eastern tributaries of the Mississippi River, southwestern Mississippi and Louisiana, and extends east along the Gulf Slope to and including the Mobile drainage basin in Alabama and Georgia, as well as the Perdido River system east to the Apalachicola River basin, and Gulf of Mexico drainages from the Ocklockonee River in Florida, and Flint River in Georgia, to the Mississippi River in Mississippi. The species name, "winchelli", originates from Professor Alexander Winchell. He provided Dr. Girard with the specimens he needed to categorize the clear chub. Winchell acquired his specimens from the Black Warrior River, Alabama. Clear chub The

neg: Red River of the South Red River of the South The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major river in the southern United States of America. It was named for the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name. Although it was once a tributary of the Mississippi River, the Red River is now a tributary of the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi that flows separately into the Gulf of Mexico. It is connected to the Mississippi River by the Old River Control Structure. The south bank of the Red River

neg: Mississippi River Watershed Conservation Programs the basin, and animals can be affected if they consume water or plants that have been contaminated by the nutrient pollution. Nitrates and phosphorus also pollute the air, and if the air is polluted, eventually the contamination will fall back to the earth and the waterway making its way through the basin. The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force undertakes the challenge of eliminating the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico as well as promoting the implementation of new farming practices and nutrient runoff management. The Mississippi River dumps high nutrient runoff from the vast drainage basin

neg: Stream America as the watershed and, in British English, as a catchment). A basin may also be composed of smaller basins. For instance, the Continental Divide in North America divides the mainly easterly-draining Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean basins from the largely westerly-flowing Pacific Ocean basin. The Atlantic Ocean basin, however, may be further subdivided into the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico drainages. (This delineation is termed the Eastern Continental Divide.) Similarly, the Gulf of Mexico basin may be divided into the Mississippi River basin and several smaller basins, such as the Tombigbee River basin. Continuing in this vein, a

neg: Atchafalaya River Morganza Spillway further downstream is also used to regulate volume. In 1942 part of the flow of the Atchafalaya River was diverted through Wax Lake to the Gulf of Mexico further west. During the 2011 Mississippi River floods, the Old River complex was discharging more than into the Atchafalaya River, and the Morganza Floodway was discharging one-fourth of its capacity. If the Mississippi were allowed to flow freely, the shorter and steeper Atchafalaya would capture the main flow of the Mississippi, permitting the river to bypass its current path through the important ports of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Despite

neg: Chunky River Chunky River The Chunky River is a short tributary of the Chickasawhay River in east-central Mississippi. Via the Chickasawhay, it is part of the watershed of the Pascagoula River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The river is formed between the towns of Hickory and Chunky in southwestern Newton County by the confluence of Chunky Creek and Okahatta Creek. However, older maps continue to call it the Chunky Creek until a point in Lauderdale County. The Chunky River flows generally southeastwardly through southwestern Lauderdale County and northwestern Clarke County, where it joins Okatibbee Creek to form the Chickasawhay River

neg: Pascagoula River The main channel passes Escatawpa and Moss Point and flows into the sound at Pascagoula. At low water the tidal effects are felt more than forty miles upstream. According to the Geographic Names Information System, the river has also been known as: Pascagoula River The Pascagoula River is a river, about 80 miles (130 km) long, in southeastern Mississippi in the United States. The river drains an area of about 8,800 square miles (23,000 km²) and flows into Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico. The Pascagoula River Basin is managed by the Pat Harrison Waterway District. It is significant

neg: Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. It is divided into two sections: The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca, above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, Minnesota. The name "Itasca" was chosen to designate the "true head" of the Mississippi River as a combination of the last four letters of the Latin word for truth ("veritas") and the first two letters of the Latin word for head ("caput"). However, the lake is in turn

neg: Mississippi River Delta the Mississippi embayment. The embayment began focusing sediment into the Gulf of Mexico, which facilitated the deltaic land-building processes for the future. During the Paleogene Period (approx. 65.5 to 23 million years ago), a series of smaller scale, regional rivers entered present-day southern Louisiana allowing an increase in dispersion of sediment deposition into the delta region. The Mississippi embayment then became a primary focus of sediment deposition during the Miocene Epoch (approx. 23 to 5.3 million years ago), which built the foundation of the modern delta region. The modern day Mississippi River Delta plain began to evolve during the Holocene

neg: Northern Gulf Institute Suwannee River in Florida. The Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Institute developed within the context of the Memorandum of Agreement between Mississippi State University (MSU) and NOAA. The collaboration led by Mississippi State University (MSU), includes the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), Louisiana State University (LSU), Florida State University (FSU), and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL). The NGI defines the Northern Gulf of Mexico region as the upland, watershed, coastal zone, and coastal ocean areas the Sabine River in Louisiana east to the Suwannee River in Florida. This region is a

neg: Buttahatchee River Buttahatchee River The Buttahatchee River is a tributary of the Tombigbee River, about long, in northwestern Alabama and northeastern Mississippi in the United States. Via the Tombigbee River, it is part of the watershed of the Mobile River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Buttahatchee River rises in northwestern Winston County, Alabama, near the town of Delmar, and flows generally westward through Marion County, where it collects a short tributary, the West Branch Buttahatchee River. At Hamilton, the river turns to the southwest and flows through Lamar County, Alabama and Monroe County, Mississippi; its lower reach is used

neg: Meltwater pulse 1A equivalent to 50% of the global discharge during meltwater pulse 1A. This research also shows that the Mississippi meltwater flood MWF-4 occurred during the Allerød oscillation and had largely stopped before the beginning of the Younger Dryas stadial. The same research found an absence of meltwater floods discharging into the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River for a period of time following meltwater flood MWF-4, known as the "cessation event", that corresponds with the Younger Dryas stadial. Prior to Mississippi River meltwater flood MWF-3, two other Mississippi River meltwater floods, MWF-2 and MWF-1, have been recognized. The first of

neg: Great Lakes shipping from January to March. Some icebreakers ply the lakes, keeping the shipping lanes open through other periods of ice on the lakes. The Great Lakes are also connected by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Illinois River (from the Chicago River) and the Mississippi River. An alternate track is via the Illinois River (from Chicago), to the Mississippi, up the Ohio, and then through the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway (a combination of a series of rivers and lakes and canals), to Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Commercial tug-and-barge traffic on

neg: Inland waterways of the United States flatter and the climate is wetter. The Mississippi River System, including the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) connects Gulf Coast ports, such as Mobile, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Houston, and Corpus Christi, with major inland ports, including Memphis, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, St. Paul, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. The Lower Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico allows ocean shipping to connect with the barge traffic, thereby making this segment vital to both the domestic and foreign trade of the United States. The Mississippi River System is connected to the Illinois Waterway, which continues to the Great Lakes

neg: Paleoflooding diversion from Lake Agassiz. Water that normally flowed through the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico was re-routed into the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River about 12.8 ka calendar years ago. There is uncertainty as to whether this change was enough to trigger the Younger Dryas, but the runoff through the Mississippi River could have pre-conditioned the thermohaline circulation prior to the cold period and outburst. Additionally, if the outburst at 12.9 ka calendar years was actually as intense as 0.30 Sv, its combination with the diversion of Agassiz drainage through the St. Lawrence River into the

neg: Meltwater pulse 1B the Mississippi River during the preceding thousand years, which is known as the "cessation event", that corresponds with the Younger Dryas stadial. The Pleistocene deposits blanketing the Louisiana Continental shelf and slope between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Orca and Pygmy basins largely consist of sediments transported down the Mississippi River mixed with variable additions of local biologically generated carbonate. Because of this, the provenance of the meltwater and superfloods can be readily inferred from the sediment's composition. The composition of the sediments brought into the Gulf of Mexico and deposited on the Louisiana continental shelf and slope

neg: Mississippi River through." Another possible course change for the Mississippi River is a diversion into Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans. This route is controlled by the Bonnet Carré Spillway, built to reduce flooding in New Orleans. This spillway and an imperfect natural levee about 4–6 meters (12 to 20 feet) high are all that prevents the Mississippi from taking a new, shorter course through Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico. Diversion of the Mississippi's main channel through Lake Pontchartrain would have consequences similar to an Atchafalaya diversion, but to a lesser extent, since the present river channel would remain in use

neg: Boulder Creek (Colorado) downtown Boulder. On the east edge of the city, the creek receives South Boulder Creek, which rises at Rogers Pass on the Continental Divide, just south of the Moffat Tunnel. South Boulder Creek flows through Rollinsville, Gross Reservoir, and Eldorado Canyon before leaving the mountains and curving past the south and east sides of Boulder to its mouth at Boulder Creek. After leaving the city, Boulder Creek flows northeast into Weld County, where it joins St. Vrain Creek, and on to a confluence with the Platte River. Its waters ultimately flow into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

neg: Waterfowl hunting America, the routes used by migratory waterfowl are generally divided into four broad geographical paths known as flyways. Each flyway is characterized by a different composition of species and habitat. The Mississippi flyway is a migration route used by waterfowl to travel from central Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, flying along the route of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In the Midwest and central United States, wildfowl hunting generally occurs on lakes, marshes, swamps, or rivers where ducks and geese land during their migration. Cornfields and rice paddies are also common hunting grounds, since geese and ducks often

neg: Lower Mississippi River Lower Mississippi River The Lower Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River downstream of Cairo, Illinois. From the confluence of the Ohio River and Upper Mississippi River at Cairo, the Lower flows just under 1600 kilometers (1000 mi) to the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most heavily travelled component of the Mississippi River System. Unlike on the upper rivers, there are no locks or dams on the Lower Mississippi. The river is, however, constrained by levees and dikes to control flooding and secure a navigation channel for barges. The Old River Control Structure, the Bonnet Carré Spillway,

neg: Lower Mississippi River allow New Panamax ship depths. Lower Mississippi River The Lower Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River downstream of Cairo, Illinois. From the confluence of the Ohio River and Upper Mississippi River at Cairo, the Lower flows just under 1600 kilometers (1000 mi) to the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most heavily travelled component of the Mississippi River System. Unlike on the upper rivers, there are no locks or dams on the Lower Mississippi. The river is, however, constrained by levees and dikes to control flooding and secure a navigation channel for barges. The Old River Control

neg: John W. Phelps was mustered into U.S. service on May 8. His regiment arrived at Fortress Monroe, Virginia on May 13. On May 27, commanding the 1st Vermont Infantry, 4th Massachusetts Infantry and 7th New York Infantry, Phelps moved 10 miles to Newport News, at the mouth of the James River. He was promoted to brigadier general on May 27, 1861. In November, 1861, he was transferred to the Department of the Gulf under Major General Benjamin F. Butler, and Phelps left on an expedition to the Gulf of Mexico where his regiment took military possession of Ship Island, Mississippi. His regiment supported

neg: La Huasteca eventually empty into either the Pánuco or the Cazones River with the zone belonging to the Pánuco, Tuxpan and Cazones River basins, all of which empty into the Gulf of Mexico. As much of the rock is easily eroded, the mountain areas are filled with caves and other underground openings. The best known of this is the Sótano de las Golandrinas (Cave of Swallows) just north of Xilitla. It is famous for the large number of birds (swifts and green parrots, not swallows) that emerge from the opening in the morning. It is also a site for base-jumping down the

neg: Tourism in Memphis, Tennessee Walk. The River walk is a 2112:1 scale working model showing 1000 mi (1600 km) of the Lower Mississippi River, from Cairo, Illinois to New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. 30 in (75 cm) in the model equal 1 mi (1.6 km) of the Mississippi River. The Walk stretches roughly 0.5 mi (800 m), allowing visitors to walk in the water and see models of cities and bridges along the way. The Gulf of Mexico section was once used as a waterpark named Bud Boogie Beach. The museum offers 18 galleries of regional history and features an indoor

neg: Huehuetenango Department which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The most important tributaries of the Chixoy in Huehuetenango are the Hondo and Xecunabaj rivers, which flow into the department from the neighbouring departments of El Quiché and Totonicapán. The Cuilco River enters the department from neighbouring San Marcos and crosses into the Mexican state of Chiapas, where it joins with the Grijalva River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Its most important tributaries in Huehuetenango are the Apal, Chomá and Coxtón rivers. The Ixcán River has its source near Santa Cruz Barillas and flows northwards towards Mexico where it joins the

neg: Gulf Coast of the United States Pensacola, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and increasingly, Sarasota. All are the centers of their respective metropolitan areas and contain large ports. (Baton Rouge is relatively far from the Gulf of Mexico; its port is on the Mississippi River, as is the port of New Orleans.) The Gulf Coast is made of many inlets, bays, and lagoons. The coast is also intersected by numerous rivers, the largest of which is the Mississippi River. Much of the land along the Gulf Coast is, or was, marshland. Ringing the Gulf Coast is the Gulf Coastal Plain which reaches from Southern Texas to the western

neg: Tennessee in terms of area, the predominant land region in Tennessee. It is part of the large geographic land area that begins at the Gulf of Mexico and extends north into southern Illinois. In Tennessee, the Gulf Coastal Plain is divided into three sections that extend from the Tennessee River in the east to the Mississippi River in the west. The easternmost section, about in width, consists of hilly land that runs along the western bank of the Tennessee River. To the west of this narrow strip of land is a wide area of rolling hills and streams that stretches all

neg: Tombigbee River Tombigbee River The Tombigbee River is a tributary of the Mobile River, approximately 200 mi (325 km) long, in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Alabama. Together with the Alabama, it merges to form the short Mobile River before the latter empties into Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The Tombigbee watershed encompasses much of the rural coastal plain of western Alabama and northeastern Mississippi, flowing generally southward. The river provides one of the principal routes of commercial navigation in the southern United States, as it is navigable along much of its length through locks and connected in its

neg: Jefferson Seaway Jefferson Seaway The Jefferson Seaway was a proposed deep-draft ship channel to be created in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, that would establish a route between the Mississippi River at Westwego and the Gulf of Mexico near Grand Isle. The Mississippi River provided the only deep-water access to New Orleans and its neighboring ports. In the mid-20th century, the creation of alternate routes was considered, including the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO), which was ultimately selected, funded and constructed. The Jefferson Seaway, sometimes referred to as the Arrow to the Americas, the Mississippi Valley Seaway Canal, the Tidewater Ship Canal and the Barataria

neg: Nitrate in the Mississippi River Basin oxygen concentration that is low and can lead to the suffocation of animals. An example of this is the dead zone located off the coast of the Mississippi River. According to NOAA, the 2016 predicted size of this dead zone is going to be approximately 5,898 square miles with a nitrate concentration of 146,000 metric tons of nitrate flowing down the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River into the Gulf of Mexico. Nitrate concentrations have increased significantly (by factors of 2 to greater than 5) since the early 1900s. This is due to the agricultural runoff from the farming states that are

neg: Nitrate in the Mississippi River Basin the mouth of the Mississippi River is growing. Drainage from crop fields has caused nitrate to leach into groundwater, which has adversely affected some drinking water sources in the Mississippi River Basin. In surface waters, high nitrate levels have led to instances of eutrophication, which have caused dissolved oxygen levels to significantly decrease in affected water bodies including the coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Furthermore, altered nitrate to silicate ratios have caused coastal marine ecosystems to move away from a diatom based system to a less productive system. A possible way to lower the concentrations of nitrate is

neg: Minn of the Mississippi Minn of the Mississippi Minn of the Mississippi is an illustrated children's book by Holling C. Holling. Though short, it is more a novel than a picture book. First published in 1951, it received the Newbery Honor award the next year. The book tells the story of a snapping turtle that hatches near the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It then goes on a journey down the river to Louisiana and the river's delta as the massive watercourse empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The turtle gets to see much of the Midwestern United States and American South along its

neg: Wyoming Divide spans north-south across the central portion of the state. Rivers east of the divide drain into the Missouri River Basin and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. They are the North Platte, Wind, Big Horn and the Yellowstone rivers. The Snake River in northwest Wyoming eventually drains into the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean, as does the Green River through the Colorado River Basin. The Continental Divide forks in the south central part of the state in an area known as the Great Divide Basin where the waters that flow or precipitate into this area remain there and cannot

neg: Salt Pond Mountain east directly into the Atlantic Ocean. The south end of Salt Pond Mtn. drains into Sinking Creek and Doe Creek, thence into New River, the Kanawha River, the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, and into the Gulf of Mexico. The northwest side of Salt Pond Mtn. drains into Little Stony Creek, and thence into the New River. The southeast side of Salt Pond Mtn. drains into Johns Creek, thence into Craig Creek, and the James River, which drains into Chesapeake Bay. The Appalachian Trail, a National Scenic Trail from Georgia to Maine, crosses the northeast end of Salt Pond Mtn.

neg: Mississippi River falls over for an average rate of . At its confluence with the Ohio River, the Middle Mississippi is above sea level. Apart from the Missouri and Meramec rivers of Missouri and the Kaskaskia River of Illinois, no major tributaries enter the Middle Mississippi River. The Mississippi River is called the Lower Mississippi River from its confluence with the Ohio River to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about . At the confluence of the Ohio and the Middle Mississippi, the long-term mean discharge of the Ohio at Cairo, Illinois is , while the long-term mean

neg: Lower Mississippi River the Mississippi River – Gulf Outlet Canal and other man-made structures on the lower reaches of the river seek to manipulate the flow of water in the vicinity of New Orleans. The political and engineering focus in the 20th century was to separate the Lower Mississippi River from its floodplain. Levees and channelization—along with substantial loss of bottomland forests to agriculture in the alluvial valley—have resulted in a loss of wildlife and fish habitat, decreased water quality, and an expansion of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Agricultural runoff has resulted in increased turbidity, siltation, pollution from pesticides,

neg: Bonnet Carré Spillway 1988) and Congress (1990) split the cost and maintenance between the Federal Government at 75%, Louisiana at 20% and Mississippi at 5%. Louisiana and Mississippi must agree to a final project design but in July 1996 Louisiana withdrew as a sponsor and as of 2016 an agreement has not been reached. Bonnet Carré Spillway The Bonnet Carré Spillway is a flood control operation in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Located in St. Charles Parish, Louisianaabout west of New Orleansit allows floodwaters from the Mississippi River to flow into Lake Pontchartrain and thence into the Gulf of Mexico. The construction of the

neg: Old Mobile Site the region and to protect Louisiana and the Mississippi River they needed a fort on the Gulf of Mexico. After the ascent of William and Mary to the throne of England in 1688, hostilities between England and France grew, increasing the urgency for a French settlement on the Gulf Coast. By controlling the Gulf Coast, the Alabama river valleys, the Mississippi River, the Ohio Valley, and Canada, France could surround the English and confine them to the Eastern Seaboard. The stakes, vast reaches of land and the lucrative Indian fur trade, were enormous. Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville was born in