"Rising Sea Levels and Subsidence: How Buildings and Soil Types Affect New York City"

In addition to the rise in sea level due to climate change, the subsoil sinks by an average of one to two millimeters per year.

The subsidence depends both on the development and on the subsoil itself. While the skyscrapers founded on rock hardly subside, areas closer to the coast with softer subsoil are much more affected. This is calculated by a team from the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park in the journal “Earth’s Future”.

Using modeling and estimation, the researchers determined the total weight of the buildings in New York City to be 764 million tons. The specific subsidence rate also depends on the soil types. According to this, clay soils and artificially filled areas have a sinking potential of 7.5 to 60 centimeters due to development, with an average of a good 29 centimetres. Other soils are less prone to yielding under load, with average values of six to twelve centimetres.

The researchers determined a subsidence potential of 0 to 0.5 centimeters for rock. Because with this subsoil, the earth deforms immediately after construction, and then hardly any more. In addition, there is a natural subsidence of the ground in the New York area, which originates from the last ice age. The building load makes only one contribution. The scientists warn against a careless approach to the development of the city.