Geologists are sounding the alarm, warning that the enormous combined weight of New York City’s buildings is causing the city that never sleeps to sink into bodies of water that surround it.
The Big Apple, with its more than 8 million residents, is sinking 1-2mm every year while sea levels are purportedly rising, raising concerns among geologists observing the gradual descent, according to a study published in the journal AGU. While some of the sinking is “consistent with internal consolidation of artificial fill and other soft sediment” in some areas — particularly Lower Manhattan — the sinking is being exacerbated by the 1.7 trillion pound weight of New York’s more than 1 million buildings, the study stated.
NYC is sinking under the weight of its buildings: geologists https://t.co/dhFf4pCMjV pic.twitter.com/6kI0BgPjx7
— New York Post (@nypost) May 18, 2023
The combination of rising sea levels and the gradual descent from the enormous pressure being placed on certain areas around the city is increasing threats of natural disasters such as flooding for the city, the study said, adding that the adverse effects have already been seen within the Big Apple.
“Two recent hurricanes caused casualties and heavy damage in New York City. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy forced sea water into the city, whereas heavy rainfall from Hurricane Ida in 2021 overwhelmed drainage systems because of heavy runoff within the mostly paved city,” the authors observed in the study.
“The combination of tectonic and anthropogenic subsidence, sea level rise, and increasing hurricane intensity imply an accelerating problem along coastal and riverfront areas. Repeated exposure of building foundations to salt water can corrode reinforcing steel and chemically weaken concrete causing structural weakening,” the study continued.
The effects have already been seen as sidewalks across New York’s boroughs are collapsing at record rates into sinkholes, the New York Post reported in 2022. In 2021, there was a 38% rise in sinkhole sightings around the city, totalling 3,920. At a City Council meeting called to address the growing problem in August 2022, Rohit Aggarwala, NYC’s chief climate officer and the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, pointed to infrastructure issues and climate change as the culprits behind the problem, The New York Post reported. (RELATED: Sinkholes Stop Traffic, Devour Cars In NYC)
New York City is not alone in its struggles as the study reveals similar issues are occurring in coastal cities throughout the world. “Major cities on every continent except Antarctica are observed to be subsiding and the issue may be worsened as populations grow,” the study warned, stating that 70% of the world’s population are expected to be living in urban areas by 2050.
“Increasing urbanization will likely exacerbate subsidence by groundwater extraction and/or construction density, which combined with accelerating sea level rise implies a growing flood hazard in coastal cities. As these trends continue it will be important to be mindful of accompanying mitigation strategies against inundation in growing coastal cities,” the study concluded.