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1973 Map of Wilkinson Bay

Name: 1973 Topographic Map of Wilkinson Bay
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1992
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1992

About this map

The coastal wetlands of the Jefferson and Plaquemines Parish line are captured here in an era of intensive energy extraction and hydraulic engineering. The Manila Village Oil Field and various Oil and Gas Fields dominate the aquatic landscape, marked by numerous Drill Holes and offshore Platforms that sit among the tidal marshes. This orthophotomap provides a literal view of the shifting shoreline, where the Barataria Waterway and the Wilkinson Canal cut through the native hydrologic patterns to facilitate navigation and industry.

Water bodies such as Wilkinson Bay, Bay Chene Fleur, and Bay Jimmy are separated by narrow points of land like St Marys Point. The map illustrates the precarious nature of the Louisiana coast, where an Indefinite Boundary separates the two parishes across the open waters of Barataria Bay. The presence of several Dams and the transition from Mud Lake into the deeper bayous underscore the managed nature of this deltaic environment during the early 1970s.