A new report by scientists studying Louisiana's sinking coast says the land is not just sinking -- it is sliding ever so slowly into the Gulf of Mexico.
The new findings may further complicate plans being drawn up to build bigger and better levees to protect New Orleans and Cajun bayou culture from the kind of flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and other storms that routinely batter the US Gulf coast.
If the land is shifting -- even slightly -- engineers may need to take that into consideration as they build new levees and draw lines across the coast to delineate which areas should and should not be protected.
Researchers have known for a long time that the swampy land under south Louisiana is sinking -- pothole-riven streets and wobbly porches and floors caused by subsidence are visible evidence of that -- but a lateral movement of the land into the Gulf enters largely unstudied terrain.
GLACIAL SPEED
The report, which appeared in last month's issue of the Geophysical Research Letters, a journal that is published by the American Geo-physical Union, said that the bedrock under southeast Louisiana is breaking away at a glacial speed.
The southward movement is triggered by deep underground faults slipping under the enormous weight of sediment dumped by the Mississippi River, the study said.
The slippage, though, is confined to a large egg-shaped area approximately 400km long and 290km wide that encompasses the delta of the Mississippi, which was built up by river deposits over the past 8,000 years, the report said.
The report was based on data collected between 1995 and last year by Global Positioning System stations installed in recent years to better understand the dynamic nature of this delta the French settled in 300 years ago.
NO WORRIES
"People should not be afraid that we're going to fall into the Gulf. That's not going to happen," said Roy Dokka, lead researcher and executive director of the Center for GeoInformatics at Louisiana State University.
He described the slide into the Gulf as "a kind of avalanche of material, except that it is happening very slowly. It moved about the width of two credit cards this year."
While that may seem trifling in the big picture, Dokka said that engineers needed to include this reality into their plans for levees, floodgates and other projects.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
RSS