12 Ways New Orleans is Sinking

October 16, 2007

There’s a lot of contention about the Mississippi Delta these days. Some folks say it’s hopelessly sinking and should be abandoned. Others want to pour billions into massive engineering projects to fight off sea level rise and the ongoing subsidence of the land there. I’ve covered this matter for at least five years now, as I was reminded by a reader who pointed me to my own article forecasting the Katrina disaster three years before it happened. But I’m still torn about what we should do. On one hand I sympathize with displaced people of that region and respect their sustained fighting spirit and determination to rebuild. On the other hand, I was trained as a geologist and I can’t help but see how inevitable the sinking is. There are, after all, sunken cities on the Nile Delta and other examples of human settlements which stood in the way of geological change. Is this any different? Is it really courageous to fight a geological process or just foolhardy? Me, I’m undecided. For anyone who wants to take a closer look at this complicated issue, there is a fellow at the University of Missouri who is slated to give what appears to be a pretty balanced presentation on the matter at the meeting of the Geological Society of America later this month – including a handy list of the 12 ways the Mississippi Delta is sinking.