How did the Mississippi River become both cause and register of anthropocenic changes and what do these changes reveal about the Mississippi’s future?
What does it mean to think of the Mississippi River as a geological artifact? Understanding the deep history of the river’s topological formation, its shifting paths, changing sedimentation patterns, and formation of strata provides a Holocene baseline against which the increasingly human-led transformation of the river can be measured. This rich Earth historical context reveals how the Mississippi has become both a cause and register of the changes associated with the Anthropocene, while also giving some indication of the region’s future in this new epoch.