19 Sep 2025

Natural and Nature-Based Features (NNBF) Design Process

Purpose: The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) provides water resource and river engineering technical support to a wide-ranging portfolio of projects across the country and world. To maintain state-of-the-art river engineering practice, research and development focused on updating conventional river engineering technologies and approaches is required. Incorporating Natural and Nature-Based Features (NNBF) and Natural Infrastructure (NI) strategies into the design of stable channels is one way to update river engineering practices (USACE 2017). The objective of this technical note is to provide a standard approach for incorporating NNBF-NI into the design of stable channels. Specific analysis and design details referred to herein are part of the NNBF Stabilization and Restoration (NNBF-SR) research and development (R&D) effort.

10 Sep 2025

Geology, Geomorphology, and River Engineering in the Memphis-to-Rosedale Reach, Lower Mississippi River

Abstract: This study examines the geology and geomorphology of the Mississippi River between Memphis, Tennessee, and Rosedale, Mississippi, with a focus on the Tertiary (65 to 2 million years) surface and how the present-day river has impacted this surface. Previous mapping efforts involving the Tertiary surface by the US Army Corps of Engineers are reviewed. Relevant maps are included as plates herein to facilitate wider dissemination. Today’s channel has deepened through time due to river engineering, which includes oxbow cutoffs and hardening of river banks with revetment and training dikes to prevent uncontrolled bank caving and channel migration. The course of the river was fixed in place by 1962. The thalweg of the river intersects the Tertiary surface at Helena, Arkansas, at the Hardin oxbow cutoff, and near the vicinity of Memphis, Tennessee. At these three locations, the Tertiary surface occurs at shallow elevations and in close proximity to where Tertiary sediments outcrop. A deeply buried alluvial valley is present in the Tertiary surface. Erosion of Jackson Group sediments in this valley exposes the underlying Claiborne Group sediments. Jackson and Sunflower oxbow cutoffs occur in the deepest parts of the alluvial fill.

7 Apr 2025

Review of Mississippi River Sediment-Sampling Protocols

Abstract: The Mississippi River sediment data protocols located in the US Army Corps of Engineer (USACE), St Louis, Memphis, Vicksburg, and New Orleans Districts, were reviewed and evaluated. The review included both USACE and US Geological Survey (USGS) sampling sites. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the reported historical sediment data and to provide guidance for moving forward with an accurate and consistent sediment data collection program. The review was focused on the reliability of the reported historical data and its usefulness for use in sedimentation studies related to long-term aggradation, degradation, and dredging. Recommendations to implement effective sediment data collection, laboratory analyses, and reporting were provided.

8 Aug 2023

Evaluation of Structural and Operational Alternatives to Optimize the Distribution of Water and Sediment in the Passes of the Mississippi River

Abstract: Mississippi River shoaling and dredging processes in the vicinity of Head of Passes and in Southwest Pass were investigated. Existing rates of deposition and dredging were determined using near-daily eHydro bathymetric surveys, National Dredging Quality Management dredge operating data, and geospatial processing steps developed for this study. These surveys provide a means to characterize the highly dynamic and variable sedimentation patterns observed in the navigation channel. The HEC-6T one-dimensional numerical sedimentation model was used to evaluate possible modifications to the distribution of water and sediment in the Mississippi River near Head of Passes in an attempt to reduce shoaling in the navigation channel. The model was used to evaluate the effects of partial closures of several distributaries downstream from Venice and to evaluate the effects of channel widening and channel deepening adjacent to the Hopper Dredge Disposal Area at Head of Passes. In this study, various structural alternatives were compared to a base test that represented existing conditions. Sedimentation and dredging effects were projected 50 years into the future.

9 Sep 2021

Mat Sinking Unit Supply Study: Mississippi River Revetment

Abstract: The Mississippi Valley Division (MVD) has maintained the Mississippi River banks for over 80 years. The Mat Sinking Unit (MSU), built in 1946, was considered state-of-the-art at the time. This system is still in operation today and has placed over 1,000 miles of Articulated Concrete Mats along the Mississippi River from Head of Passes, LA, to Cairo, IL. A new MSU has been designed and is expected to be fully mission capable and operational by the 2023 season, which is expected to increase the productivity from 2,000 squares/day up to 8,000 squares/day with double shifts and optimal conditions. This MSU supply study identifies and optimizes the supply chain logistics for increased production rates from the mat fields to the MSU. The production rates investigated for this effort are 2,000 squares/day, 4,000 squares/day, and 6,000 squares/day. RiskyProject® software, which utilizes a Monte Carlo method to determine a range of durations, manpower, and supplies based on logical sequencing is used for this study. The study identifies several potential supply and demand issues with the increased daily production rates. Distance to casting fields, number of barges, and square availability are the major issues to supply increased placement rates identified by this study.

1 Apr 2020

PUBLICATION NOTICE: Comparison of Benthic Fish Assemblages along Revetted and Natural Banks in the Lower Mississippi River: A 30-Year Perspective

 Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/35259Report Number: MRG&P Report No. 29Title: Comparison of Benthic Fish Assemblages along Revetted and Natural Banks in the Lower Mississippi River: A 30-Year PerspectiveBy K. Jack Killgore and Steven G. GeorgeApproved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited January 2020Abstract: Benthic fish

22 Jan 2020

PUBLICATION NOTICE: Comparison of Benthic Fish Assemblages along Revetted and Natural Banks in the Lower Mississippi River: A 30-Year Perspective

 Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/35259 Report Number: MRG&P Report No. 29Title: Comparison of Benthic Fish Assemblages along Revetted and Natural Banks in the Lower Mississippi River: A 30-Year Perspective By K. Jack Killgore and Steven G. George Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited January 2020 Abstract: Benthic fish