The Great Red River Raft and its Sedimentological Implications - Reconstructing Human-Landscape Interactions: Interpreting Desert and Fluvial Environments - page 44

92°00 91°45 91°30

92°15 W

31°15 N

Moncla
Gap

T urnbull
Be nd

31°

Atchafalaya
River

30°45

Mississippi River
meander belt 1

0

10 mi

30°30

0 15 km

Active Holocene
meander belt

Abandoned Holocene
meander belt

Holocene
backswamp

Pleistocene
terrace

Pleistocene
upland

Active
course

Abandoned
course

Fig. 8 The Red River avulsed northeast through Moncla gap, reoccupied segments of meander
belts 2 and 3, and joined the Mississippi River at Turnbull Bend (Modified from Aslan et al. 2005 )

Red River Historic Exploration

The Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto was probably the first European explorer
to see both the Red River and its Raft as he wandered through the valley in AD
1541 on his second expedition to the region. Little is known about his observations