Atchafalaya River

Course of the river

Delta of the river

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Atchafalaya River is a tributary of the Mississippi River and the former lower reaches of the Red River. It is about 270 km long and is located in south central Louisiana in the United States. It is navigable and is used as an industrial ship channel for the state of Louisiana.

Formation

The name of the Atchafalaya River shall apply from the confluence of the Red River in the channelized river branch of the Mississippi River at Simmesport. Once the Red River flowed here in a big, ausholende west Mississippi - loop that existed until the construction of an abbreviated by stitch ( Shreve 's cut ) in 1831. About the bed of the now abandoned river still flowed sling an increasing amount of water to a turn, branching off from the loop to the right estuary, which in turn was foreshadowed by the former lower reaches of the Red River. Called in place of the old river loop, Old River, the water leaves the Mississippi today via a built in the 60s, parallel, 11 -kilometer-long canal to the west. The water flow in the channel is held today on the Old River Control Structure at about 30 percent of the Mississippi outflow, ie, at an average of 4,730 m³ / s

Course

At the end of the channelized Old River joins from the right of the Red River, the largest tributary one ( 1,590 m³ / s). The Atchafalaya then meanders south through extensive diked floodplains. About 25 kilometers downstream of Morgan City it flows into the Gulf of Mexico to the Atchafalaya Bay. The river forms a new delta in the bay - the only area of Louisiana's coast, in the new country arises naturally.

Culture and economy

The Atchafalaya River has a special cultural significance for the Cajun Country. The maintenance of the river as a navigable arm of the Mississippi for more than a century, a major project of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Name Variants

The river has several name variants:

• Atachafalaya River
• Atachaffalaya River
• Atchaalaya River
• Atchafalayia River
• Atchafayalia River
• Atchafaylia River
• Atchaffalay River
• Atchafylia River
• Atchapalaya River
• Bayou Atchafalaya
• Chafalia River
• Chaffalia River
• Chaffeli River
• River Atchafa - Laya
• Tchafalaya River