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Intro > Wetland Planning Regions > Delta
Delta
The region known as the Delta is actually that part of the Gulf Coastal Plain that has been extensively modified by the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers, and other flowing waters. It occupies most of eastern Arkansas. The active meander belts of relatively intact Delta streams include floodplains subject to frequent overbank flows as well as broad backwater areas, oxbow lakes, and shallow depressions. Older deposits may include similar landforms which no longer have any floodwater connections to stream systems. Such areas support wetlands in remnant depressions and on flats. Even older deposits support wetlands in depressions and flats associated with long-dry lakebeds, ancient buried braided-channel systems, and massive dunes of wind-blown sand. The vast expanses of wetlands that occupied the Delta prior to European settlement have been dramatically reduced by flood control, drainage projects, and agricultural development.
The Delta Region includes a unique upland area in northeastern Arkansas that projects as much as 75 meters above the flat terrain of the Delta. This is Crowley's Ridge, an elongate "upland" remnant that supports few wetlands. However, the seep and streamside wetlands that occur there are different from wetlands in similar settings in the Ouachitas and Ozarks.
Representatives of all of the wetland classes occur within the Delta and Crowley's Ridge. Read more about Wetland Classification, or find information on specific wetland classes that occur in the Delta Region:
Depressions
Flats
Fringe
Riverine
Slopes
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