Written in SCIENCE he
Did you know that the emblematic New York City is in danger of sink and not only because of the increase in the level of seabut that the main problem lies because of its own weight? Although it seems something extremely incredible to believe, here at Heraldo Binario we give you all the details about it.
Why is New York sinking?
NY stands out for being one of the cities In the world that has an architecture made up of imposing skyscrapers that are so valued by financial centers or by millionaires who can buy their luxurious apartments, however, these majestic buildings could be the reason why this city sinks
And it is that, according to a study carried out by the University of Rhode Island and a researcher from the United States Geological Survey, and published in the scientific journal Earth’s Futureconcluded that the more than one million buildings that are concentrated in the Big Apple are exerting significant pressure on the ground, and it is estimated that the accumulated weight of these buildings is 761.86 billion kilometers.
Added to the weight, remember that NY is a city coastal type, which will bring serious problems in the future due to the combination of sinking tectonic and anthropogenic, the intensification of hurricanes and the Rising sea levelswarn the study authors.
They also mentioned that the impact of extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and the greenhouse gases that increase the frequency of hurricanes in this area, aggravated the risk of subsidence in a few years. “It is unavoidable. The ground is going down and the water is rising. At some point, those two levels will meet.”said Tom Parsons, research leader at the US Geological Survey.
An unheeded warning
Even with the evidence presented in this investigation, the projects real estate in the area they do not seem to have plans to change, in fact, 90% of the skyscrapers located in the areas considered at risk after the impact of Hurricane Sandy, do not meet the construction regulations for areas with flood or subsidence challenges.
“There is a lot of weight there, a lot of people there […] The average elevation in the southern part of the island is only one or two meters (3.2 or 6.5 feet) above sea level, it is very close to the water line, so it is a serious concern.”said Tom Parsons.
For example, there are just over a million buildings distributed only in five neighborhoods of Manhattan, which add 1.5 billion tons of metal, glass and concrete, which generate great pressure on the earth. Parsons concludes that the study does not advise that they stop building buildingssince there are several factors that cause the sinkingbut it is considered that there is a problem that must be addressed to avoid a catastrophe in the future.