Environmental Engineering

Write Up Draft:
Louisiana has seen its fair share of disaster. The events of hurricane Katrina killed 1,500 people and caused an estimated 125 billion in damages. This catastrophic event was only a piece among the problems that the state has seen. Flooding has plagued the region since the day it was settled, and, according to scientists, will only get worse with time.
Recent research by the USGS has discovered that 1,900 square miles of land have been lost on the Louisiana coast in the past 78 years. In other words, an area of land roughly the size of Delaware is now under water. This is due to a series of effects including tropical storms, rising sea levels, the diversion of the Mississippi River, and the natural removal of sediment by ocean forces. The land which is being lost primarily consists of barrier islands and wetlands, which are some of the most fertile habitats on the planet. This land is vital to plants and animals, but its importance to mankind may be even more so. These wetlands act as a buffer and surge barrier. Essentially, they are the only thing standing in between New Orleans and another devastating hurricane.  If this is allowed to continue, Tropical Storms will hit with more force with each year that passes. The Corps of Engineers suggests building levees stronger; driving steel deeper and laying concrete thicker, but maybe there is a better way.  Maybe it is better to let the environment do the engineering.
The Process:
The process begins with two naturally occurring forces in the ocean, turbidity and upwelling. These forces provide an ideal situation which can be taken advantage of by placing a specific floating framework of nets between them. This framework consists of buoyant aluminum foam coated in a layer of silicon. The aluminum foam allows the frame to float while being attached directly to the continental shelf. The silicon serves a separate function which can only be seen at a microscopic level.
Silicon is the primary food source of microorganisms called diatoms. Diatoms, or environmental engineers as they are often called, live throughout oceans and marshes and perform many functions. The most important of these is their ability to aggregate soil. Through a chemical process, they bind sand, CO2, and organic matter together to create an aggregated soil.
 Fed by the silicon and surrounded by the ingredients to aggregate soil, the Diatoms begin creating a land mass on the frame that begins to gain buoyancy through additions of organic matter and CO2. The upper levels of the framework fill first and raise subsequent levels to begin accumulating sediment. The final product is a landmass capable of reducing the forces of a storm surge.