Sam Bentley

Professor and Billy and Ann Harrison Chair Louisiana State University

  • Baton Rouge LA

Dr. Bentley's research interests include coastal and marine sedimentology.

Contact

Louisiana State University

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Biography

Dr. Samuel J. Bentley is a professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Louisiana State University (LSU), where he holds the Billy and Ann Harrison Chair in Sedimentary Geology and is an adjunct professor at the LSU College of the Coast and Environment. He formerly held the Canada Research Chair in Seabed Processes and Seabed Imaging at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, and recently served as Vice President of Research and Economic Development at LSU. He received his Bachelor’s and Master's degrees from the University of Georgia in 1985 and 1992, respectively, and his PhD in coastal geological oceanography from Stony Brook University in 1998. Dr. Bentley served as Associate Editor of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy for the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences from 2009 to 2012. He has been working at Louisiana State University since 2011. He received a US National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2001, the James Lee Wilson Award from the Society for Sedimentary Geology in 2003 and has been a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2022. Dr. Bentley's research interests include coastal and marine sedimentology, sediment radiochemistry, continental shelf fine sediment dynamics, bioturbation, and analysis and predictive modeling of sedimentary structures.

Areas of Expertise

Predictive Modeling
Marine Sedimentology
Sediment Radiochemistry
Coastal Sedimentology
Bioturbation
Continetal Sheld Fine Sentiment Dynamics

Research Focus

Sedimentary Dynamics & Deltaic Systems

Dr. Bentley’s research focuses on sedimentary dynamics of coastal and deltaic systems, particularly the Mississippi River delta and adjacent continental shelf. He combines sediment coring, radiometric dating, and numerical sediment-budget modeling to quantify land loss, guide coastal restoration, and forecast delta resilience under sea-level rise.

Education

SUNY Stony Brook

Ph.D.

Coastal Geological Oceanography

1998

University of Georgia

M.S.

Geology

1992

University of Georgia

B.A.

Theater, Geology (minor)

1985

Accomplishments

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science

2022

James Lee Wilson Award , Society for Sedimentary Geology,

2003

LSU Tiger Athletic Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching

2003

Media Appearances

WATCH: Tipping Point – The Mighty Mississippi | A PBS News Special

PBS  tv

2025-07-15

The Mississippi River, North America’s largest river system, is under threat.

Air and water pollution, downstream flooding and coastal land loss are among the environmental pressures that are putting the health and future of the waterway — and the communities that depend on it — at risk.

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Scientists face ecological and economic hurdles to save Mississippi River Delta

PBS  tv

2025-08-08

The iconic Mississippi River Delta is of enormous importance to the country, especially near the Gulf Coast. It's an economic engine and a key wildlife habitat. But it's shrinking considerably due to a variety of factors, including engineering done decades ago. Science Correspondent Miles O'Brien looks at those problems and efforts to prevent further loss.

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Louisiana's Bird's Foot Delta is disappearing. This new grant will help plan for its future.

NOLA  online

2023-11-01

The new Mississippi River Delta Transition Initiative, or MissDelta, will include the development of new, state-of-the-art computer models to help researchers determine how the lower delta, from mile 44 on the river’s east bank to its mouth, will change over the next 100 years, said Tulane professor Mead Allison and LSU professor Samuel Bentley, co-leaders of the consortium.

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Articles

Temporal Scales of Mass Wasting Sedimentation across the Mississippi River Delta Front Delineated by 210Pb/137Cs Geochronology

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering

2024

The Mississippi River Delta Front (MRDF) is a subaqueous apron of rapidly deposited and weakly consolidated sediment extending from the subaerial portions of the Birdsfoot Delta of the Mississippi River, long characterized by mass-wasting sediment transport. Four (4) depositional environments dominate regionally (an undisturbed topset apron, mudflow gully, mudflow lobe, and prodelta), centering around mudflow distribution initiated by a variety of factors (hurricanes, storms, and fluid pressure). To better understand the spatiotemporal scales of the events as well as the controlling processes, eight cores (5.8–8.0 m long) taken offshore from the South Pass (SP) and the Southwest Pass (SWP) were analyzed for gamma density, grain size, sediment fabric (X-radiography), and geochronology (210Pb/137Cs radionuclides). Previous work has focused on the deposition of individual passes and has been restricted to

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Sedimentary Processes and Instability on the Mississippi River Delta Front near the Shipwreck of the SS Virginia

Water

2024

Sediment cores were collected from a mudflow lobe (80 m water depth) offshore of the Mississippi River’s Southwest Pass in 2017 to better understand the sedimentology near the lobe entraining the SS Virginia shipwreck (sunk by a German U-boat in 1942) and surrounding Mississippi River delta front. Core analyses included 210 Pb/137 Cs geochronology, granulometry, and X-radiography. Sediment accumulation rates (SAR) calculated from excess 210 Pb activity in multicores are 0.22–0.29 cm/y at seabed depths less than 20 cm and 0.29–0.51 cm/y at depths greater than 20 cm. Accumulation rates for 137 Cs have been~ 0.15 to~ 0.37 cm/y since 1954 and 1963, respectively. Sediment accumulation rates from 210 Pb, 137 Cs geochronology and indicators of relative sedimentation and bioturbation from X-radiographs suggest that rates of sediment accumulation near the Virginia have declined since the mid-20th century.

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Morphodynamic modeling of Fourleague Bay in Mississippi River Delta: Sediment fluxes across river-estuary-wetland boundaries

Coastal Engineering

2023

To mitigate land losses in the Mississippi River Delta, sediment diversions are being employed to enable the flow of river water and sediments into wetlands experiencing degradation. A two-dimensional coupled flow-wave Delft3D model was used in this study to explore the hydrodynamics and sediment transport in Fourleague Bay (FLB), Louisiana, USA, which has been considered an analog site for studying the efficiency of sediment diversion projects. In-situ measurements of sediment accretion and hydrodynamic characteristics from 2015 to 2016 were utilized to calibrate and validate the morphodynamic model. The validated model was then applied to quantify sediment transport in FLB and surrounding marshes between May 2015 and May 2016. The results show that more sediment could be deposited to the surrounding marshes with high river discharges and strong winds.

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Affiliations

  • Council of Colleges of Arts & Sciences
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • American Geophysical Union
  • Society for Sedimentary Geology

Event Appearances

Sediment transport and geomorphologic response in multiple dredge pits near Ship Shoal of coastal Louisiana

2018 | American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting  Washington, DC

Sediment Accumulation and Bioturbation in a tropical-carbonate mangrove forest on a Pacific atoll: Ouvéa, New Caledonia

2018 | American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting  Washington, DC

DELTA SEES: Sustainability of Deltaic Coastlines

2018 | American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting  Washington, DC

Research Grants

Digital Twin: Building next-generation visualization talent and technology for NASA manufacturing

NASA

2022-2024

Challenge Subaward - H2theFuture: A Transformative Energy Cluster Strategy to Decarbonize the South Louisiana Industrial Corridor

Greater New Orleans Development Foundation

2021-2022

Louisiana Sediment Management Plan (LASMP): Central Coast Regional Sediment Inventory and Sediment Budget Program

The Water Institute of the Gulf

2022-2024