3 ms·
1-2 millimetres a year, or three quarters of an inch per decade, or two thirds of a foot per century. Not spread evenly among the entire city, some areas sink f
by fwlr 3y ago
1-2 millimetres a year, or three quarters of an inch per decade, or two thirds of a foot per century. Not spread evenly among the entire city, some areas sink faster than others. The article seems concerned by how this might impact flooding due to rising seas from climate change; New York has been building a lot of sea walls recently and most seem to be aimed at handling 1-4 feet of sea level increase over the next 50 years. This research indicates a few inches of that capacity is going to be consumed by sinking land.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ethagknight 3y agoIf... the sinking areas sink at the same rate indefinitely forever. Civil Engineering 101 covers soil compaction as a log function as voids are removed. 1-2mm a year turns to .1-.2 mm/yr after a few years, which turns to.. negligible sinking. The implication that the soil and bedrock are just oozing out from under the city is wholly unsubstantiated.
- rich_sasha 3y agoI understood from a childhood book that the magic making Manhattan possible is that the tallest skyscrapers actually attach to a granite bedrock 30m below ground level. Is this wrong (damn you "first encyclopaedia for children") or would that imply that somehow the granite bedrock itself is sinking?
- schiffern 3y agoThe granite bedrock itself can indeed sink/rise, if you add/remove large amounts of weight on top. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isostatic_depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isostatic_depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isostatic_rebound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isostatic_rebound