Bordered by Arkansas to north, Mississippi to the east, Texas to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana is nicknamed Bayou State or Child of the Mississippi, because much of the its lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp. The surface of the state may be divided into two parts, the uplands of the north, and the alluvial along the coast. The breadth of the alluvial region along the Mississippi is from 15 to 100 km. The higher hill lands of the north consist of prairie and woodlands. The elevations above sea level range from 3m to 18m, the highest point in the state being Driskill Mountain (163m). The southern coast of Louisiana is among the fastest-disappearing areas in the world.
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