Researchers at Tulane University have developed a new map that details the varying rates at which land is sinking along the Louisiana coast.
“The novel aspect of this study is that it provides a map that shows subsidence rates as observed at the land surface,” Torbjörn Törnqvist, professor of geology at Tulane, said in a news release. “This sets it apart from previous attempts to map subsidence rates.”
Subsidence is a term for decreasing land elevation.
The latest calculations — detailed in the journal GSA Today — suggest Louisiana’s coastline is sinking at an average rate of more than one-third of an inch per year. But some coastal areas and sinking faster than others.
“This information will be valuable for policy decisions about coastal restoration, such as planning of large sediment diversions that are intended to make portions of Louisiana’s coast more sustainable,” said Jaap Nienhuis, a postdoctoral fellow in the earth and environmental sciences at Tulane.
Researchers measured subsidence using surface elevation tables buried 30 feet deep.
A variety of factors is believed to be responsible for Louisiana’s sinking coastal regions.
Some suggest heavy delta sediments are pressing down on older sediment layers below. The loss and degradation of wetlands, in combination with increased erosion, is also to blame. Some researchers suggest Earth’s crust is sinking more broadly, accentuating local subsidence.
Read more at UPI
Hmmmm… Wait a minute…
I’m sure that man-made climate change is somehow sinking that land…
Sinking land is bad, right?… Therefore it MUST be caused by MMGW! Scientific problem solved!!!
And, now we can measure the rising delta tides, blaming them on melting ice caps! Double win!
See?!!… The sky is falling AND the land is sinking, all due to successful free market economics! More proof that world socialism will solve this global catastrophe…
BTW, you guys are lucky to have me providing this scientific and economic analysis. Most “climate change scientists” and Democratic “economists” demand millions of grant dollars to tell you the same thing in many more words…
I live in Terrebonne Parish, southwest of New Orleans.
A pond was dug behind my property to sell dirt to raise land for construction. The pond was 25 feet deep. They exposed huge cypress tree stumps buried from eons of silt deposited through the Mississippi River and its tributaries. When the Mississippi was leveled, this cut the source of land building silt.
Past hurricanes, salt water intrusion, subsidence etc has caused monumental land loss that cannot be feasibly replenished.
Not global warming
We have a local situation here on the north shore of Lake Erie. Some years ago a storm wiped out several cottages (lake houses). Local council then designated that area to be “hazard” land unfit for houses. The legal battle continues to this day. Why? For some reason humans want to live beside water. They’ll risk it. Waterfront property is highly profitable for speculators. This should not be a financial burden on society. Let these people pay the risk premium. Florida continues to draw people despite sinkhole headlines. Go ahead, people. I’ll hit the mute button when the whining starts.
And according to some crack-pot Guam was going to tip over becuase of too many people why is’nt the fool in the Nut House the Funny Farm a padded cell and streight jacket?
He is a Congressman. Go figure – the very people who are supposed to protect us from a changing climate by giving them carbon taxes.