The 12 Ways, Specifically

October 18, 2007

Okay, okay, I will save everybody some trouble and reveal the 12 ways New Orleans is sinking, according to geologist David Rogers of the University of Missouri-Rolla. Mind you, below are my translations of his geologese. To get it straight from the horse's mouth, check out his abstract for the coming meeting, or a pdf presentation of his I just found. Read 'em and weep: 1) Bending of the crust under the ever-increasing weight of Mississippi muds.  2) Bending of the crust from the weight of squished-together blocks of river sediments. 3) Slumping of large blocks of land into the Gulf of Mexico. 4) Drainage of old swamp and marsh deposits which squeezes underlying clays. 5) Shrinkage of drained peaty soils (by chemical oxidation). 6) Compaction of soils by builders piling up fill materials on top of them. 7) Compaction from the added weight of roads, buildings, etc. 8) More roads and buildings covering the ground, which block the way for rain water to percolate into the ground and recharge the way for water to percolate down and educed groundwater recharge because of increase in impermeable surfaces. 9) Extraction of oil, which allows the very small, but innumerable spaces between the grains of earth, once occupied by oil, to collapse and so compact even very deep sediments. 10) Extraction of gas, which works the same as in number 9. 11) Extraction of groundwater, also like number 9. 12) Changes to salt deposits which move the more buoyant materials seaward. Had enough? Sure makes me want to sing the Blues.