ABSTRACT
The New Orleans Barrier Island underlying the City of New Orleans has been sampled in surface exposures and by coring throughout 10 miles of its length which lies approximately east-west. Its width is 3 miles. Maximum thickness is 35 feet.
Radiocarbon dates demonstrate that this island was a contemporary of Maringouin and Teche phases of the Mississippi River and was buried by the younger sediments that built the Metairie subdelta.
Additional features are the associated fauna of open-gulf types; median grain size too large to be ascribed solely to a Mississippi River source, and a sequence of grain-size increase from bottom to top; heavy-mineral content related to an Eastern Gulf source; and sedimentary structures comprising mainly cross-bedding of shallow dip to horizontal bedding.
