“The Earth’s crust beneath the Mississippi Delta sinks at a much slower rate than what had been assumed. [...] However, these subsidence rates are small compared to the rate of present-day sea-level rise.” Quoted from the National Science Foundation press release.
Groundwater pumping was curtailed around Venice several decades ago but the city is still subsiding at a rate of about 2mm per year. Combine that with a sea level rise of 2mm per year and the city is still in trouble.
Sinkholes are a common geological hazard in many parts of Pennsylvania. The state geological survey has an educational publication and small website to inform the public about sinkholes.
The land beneath Bangkok is subsiding, sea level is rising and that means flood risk for the Thai capital is rapidly increasing. An article in Discovery News explores the threat of flooding for the citizens, businesses and government of Thailand.
An article on the Pittsburgh Live website explains how about half of the community of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania is undermined and has a subsidence risk.
An article in the Denver Post describes what the Colorado Geological Survey is doing to investigate minesubsidence problems in the Weld County area – where collapsing mines are damaging buildings, roads, utilities and more.
An article on the Trib.com website explores subsidence problems near Rock Springs, Wyoming that have already cost $160 million to repair but with no end in sight.
“This video describes causes of wetland loss in the Mississippi River Delta. Rapid land subsidence due to sediment compaction and dewatering increases the rate of submergence in this deltaic system.” Quoted from the USGS video release.
“The Arizona Land Subsidence Interest Group, a cadre of Earth scientists, geotechnicians, and geological engineers, have formulated the first guidelines for the professional geotechnical community in their investigations of land subsidence and earth fissure hazards in south-central Arizona.” Quoted from the Arizona Geological Survey press release.
Bangkok is subsiding. Sea level is rising. It is estimated that important parts of the city will be two meters below sea level by 2030. Dikes and seawalls are proposed as temporary solutions with an enormous cost.
Sinkholes are an expensive problem in some parts of Florida. Now, after claims have far exceeded premiums, rates are going up an average of over 400% across the state and over 2000% in problem areas.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources has a new set of land subsidence maps and a land subsidence fact sheet available for viewing on the web. Most of the land subsidence problems in Arizona are “generally due to compaction of the alluvium caused by lowering of the water table.”
“A new map that illustrates wetland losses and gains on the Louisiana coastline from 1932-2010 has been developed by the USGS National Wetlands Research Center. This product provides opportunities to better understand the timing and causes of wetland loss, which are critical for forecasting landscape changes in the future.”
During 2010 a total of 6694 homeowners insurance claims for sinkhole damage were filed in Florida. While insurance companies are trying to get out of covering sinkhole damage the sponsor of a bill in the Florida Senate that will revise sinkhole insurance law says: “We don’t have a sinkhole problem.”
Hundreds of miles of Japan’s coastlines, harbors and rivers experienced liquefaction and soil collapse during the March 11 earthquake. The earthquake lasted five minutes and this long duration may be the reason for such severe liquefaction.
A woman working in her Florida backyard suddenly falls through the surface and into a sinkhole. She gets out by dialing 911 and tossing her cell phone back out into her yard.
Florida has long been known as a state where sinkhole problems are one of the more common geologic hazards. Insurance companies there complain of frequent insurance fraud cases and the state legislature is working on new property insurance bills.
There are over 1000 miles of levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Many of those levees are old and USGS reports that the risk of earthquake-induced levee failure is higher than previously believed.
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