Calcasieu Lake

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Surface Area
256.00km2
Drainage Area
11100.00km2
Average Daily Freshwater Inflow
178.40m3/s
Average Depth
1.00m
Average Salinity
12.00
Coastal Wetlands
493.72km2

From: Gosselink, 1979; LACoast, 2003
Calcasieu Lake is located on the Chenier Coastal Plain just east of the Texas-Louisiana border. The Lake receives freshwater input from the Calcasieu River and connects to the Gulf of Mexico through Calcasieu Pass at Cameron, Louisiana.

The basin is characterized by marshes which may be fresh, intermediate, brackish or saline. The basin supports a variety of marine and wetland habitats but is dominated by marshlands. Common living resources include shrimp, Gulf menhaden, nutria, muskrat and waterfowl. Cameron is a major port of call for the offshore oil and gas industry and the area also supports two menhaden processing plants.

References

  • Gosselink, J.G., C.L. Cordes, and J.W. Parsons. 1979. An ecological characterization study of the Chenier Plain coastal ecosystem of Louisiana and Texas. 3 vols. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Biological Services. FWS/OBS-78/9 through 78/11.

  • USEPA. 1999. Ecological condition of estuaries in the Gulf of Mexico. EPA 620-R-98-004. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division, Gulf Breeze, Florida. 80 pp.

  • LACoast. Located on the web at: http://www.lacoast.gov/cwppra/projects/calcasieu/

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