1971 Map of Burrwood Bayou East

About this map

Southwest Pass serves as a vital artery for the region's energy economy, flanked by the submerged lease tracts of the Block 83 Oil Field and the Block 27 Oil Field. This 1971 orthophotomap documents a transition in coastal surveying, utilizing high-altitude aerial photography to record the industrial infrastructure of the Gulf of Mexico. The waters of West Bay meet the deep-water channels, where numerous structures such as a solitary Oil Well Platform and various unnamed platforms dot the maritime landscape. These features reflect the mid-century expansion of offshore mineral extraction in the Mississippi River delta. This sheet supersedes a 1935 planimetric map, providing a precise record of depth curves and soundings as they existed before subsequent coastal erosion and subsidence altered the delta's fragile geography.