Why are lakes expanding in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain?

The Mississippi River Deltaic Plain (MRDP) is currently experiencing unprecedented rates of land loss. This land loss is partially a result of a natural cycle of deltaic evolution, which has been happening in various stages since the Mississippi River has been unloading water and sediment into the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to this natural deltaic cycle, unnatural processes such as man-made levees and canal dredging are impeding to delta\u27s ability to rebuild itself. This lack of sediment input has made it possible for land loss processes to take effect. Most research states that subsidence is most responsible for land loss. In addition to subsidence, edge erosion has recently gained attention as a process which could play a role in the land loss. Both processes have distinctly different effects on the morphology of small lakes. Using Google Earth Engine, the areas and centroids of 750 lakes across the Barataria, Terrebonne, Atchafalaya, and Teche/Vermillion hydrologic basins were tracked from 1983 to 2016. Lake area and centroid changes where compared to patterns in soil characteristics and surface elevation. These patterns show that both relative sea-level rise and edge erosion play into the expansion of lakes in the four hydrologic basins. Additionally, results do not show a noticeable correlation between the CRMS data and lake morphology