The many faces of anthropogenic subsidence. Shallow and deep human subsurface activities contribute to the total subsidence
article
uman-induced subsidence clearly causes social problems, is costly, and poses flooding and damage threats (1). Less evident is how much each spatially and temporally superim posed human subsurface activity con tributes to total subsidence. Subsidence is often caused by an accumulation of multiple shallow and deep subsurface activities, such as groundwater withdrawal and hydrocar bon extraction (2). This complex challenge is well known but has not been properly addressed. A turning point has now been reached at which advanced monitoring strat egies and physics-based models can be used in concert to clarify the subsidence contribu tion of each human intervention. Identifying these causal relationships between human interventions and subsidence helps to estab lish overarching responsibilities and to better develop science-based site-specific preven tion and mitigation strategies.
Topics
TNO Identifier
981926
Source
Science, 376(6600), pp. 1381-1382.
Pages
1381-1382