Washington, D.C. could sink six inches in the next 100 years

This falling land will exacerbate the flooding that the nation’s capital faces from rising ocean waters due to a warming climate and melting ice sheets – accelerating the threat to the region’s monuments, roads, wildlife refuges and military installations. He argued further, “Will the Congress just sit there with their feet getting ever wetter?”

Scientists have found that land under the Chesapeake Bay – the largest estuary in the US – is sinking rapidly and the country’s capital, Washington, DC, could drop by six or more inches by 2100 – adding to the problems of sea-level rise.

To some, the results of a study that concludes the District of Columbia is sinking is a physical manifestation of the political environment in the nation’s capital. Geologists have speculated for some time that the land in this area was pushed up by the weight of a pre-historic ice sheet to the north, and is still now in the process of settling back down since the ice melted thousands of years ago.

DeJong is the lead author of a new study on the findings, published this week in the publication GSA Today.

By the end of this century, Washington D.C. could drop by as much as six inches, the authors say.

Close in, the banks of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers would feel the greatest impact of a three-foot rise, while park areas around the Tidal Basin would also diminish. They attempted to study layers of sediment in these deep holes, using a suite of techniques to calculate the age of the sand, other rocks and organic matter in every layer.

Taken together, UVM said, the data convinced the scientists their model is “bullet-proof”. Based on their analysis, the land is now in a stage of gradual sinking that will last for millennia.

A symbol of enormous national historical significance, not to mention one of the most tourist-driven economies in the US, officials are already looking for ways in which to prevent rising sea levels from destroying the city’s landmarks and infrastructure. That’s in addition to rising sea levels due to climate change, which is melting ice sheets and causing thermal expansion of the oceans.

“Right now is the time to start making preparations”, said DeJong.

DeJong stressed the severity of the situation, “Six extra inches of water really matters in this part of the world”.

Other U.S. cities reportedly at risk of subsidence are New York, Tampa, Boston, Miami and New Orleans. “What’s next, forebulge denial?”