Heavy irrigation of groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley has caused it to sink – the ground rests atop the water so when the water depletes, the ground drops.
[via my geology class]
Heavy irrigation of groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley has caused it to sink – the ground rests atop the water so when the water depletes, the ground drops.
[via my geology class]
wow, that is some crazy shit! i knew that many places currently have lower real elevations than just a few decades ago because of erosion, but sinking because of groundwater use…hooray for humankind! we kick ass!
Where does all of that water go? It goes into the ocean to raise sea levels so they can call it global warming. Same for all the silt washed down by rivers and the sinking of cities in deltas (New Orleans). Overall, the ocean is not rising as much as the land is sinking.
Wait. Water flows out. Gets into the ocean. Evaporates. Rains falls on mountain slopes. Water gets back into the Earth. What am I missing?
If the ocean were rising as quickly as we are expected to be afraid of, Vancouver BC, Saint Petersburg Russia and a good deal of Japan would be Venices by now. But they aren’t. What’s going on?