This project will study the effects of the storm surge of Hurricane Ike in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. Specifically, the research will examine the sediments resulting from the surge, and their distribution within the coastal environment. By comparing these deposits to similar sediments from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, this project will provide quantitative estimates of the significance of these extreme events in reshaping the coastal environment. The project will collect sediment cores from lakes that had already been sampled prior to the hurricane landfall. Comparison of pre- and post-hurricane deposits will provide a very clear picture of the exact nature of sediments and microfossils that were transported onto the lake beds, before this evidence is potentially obscured by bioturbation. It will also provide a baseline for identifying hurricane deposits that have occurred in the region over the past several hundred years.
The results of the study will contribute to a better understanding of the effects of storm surge on the coastal environment.These include more reliable assessments of the recurrence interval of hurricane strikes and associated hurricane risk, an improved record of the the geographic variability of hurricane strikes along at-risk coastlines; and the documentation of prehistoric hurricane activity that can be used to assess the relationship between the frequency and strength of hurricanes and climate change.
