Strange fact in the middle of report on Mexican earthquake

[growingvegetables]

Just caught a stray sentence in the middle of the R4 reporting on the disaster ... that Mexico City is sinking, at the rate of 8 inches a year .

Thought I'd misheard ... but, no. Apparently true - some of the city has sunk as much as forty-two feet!

 

[Dirk]

Hardly surprising since it is built on a drained lake bed in a volcanic basin.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Old Trump might get away with a single course of bricks for the wall then..

 

[SpokeyDokey]

There was a TV prog' about this a week or two back (can't remember what it was called) - it showed the impact on the creaking old sewerage system of the city and how the new one that was being built was being protected from sinking ie by building it on solid rock below the mud layer.

Might be on a Player somewhere.

 

[slowmotion]

[QUOTE 4964892, member: 9609"]yeh but Mexico is nearly twice the height of Ben Nevis so it has a bit to go yet.
Meanwhile London which is not very much above sea level, has been so grossly overloaded with everyone else's money is also sinking, the worrying situation is further compounded with the predicted sea level rises due to climate change brought on by the lifestyles of its wealthy inhabitants.[/QUOTE]
Err........

https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2017/06/12/...measuring-the-uks-tax-and-spending-imbalance/

 

[Drago]

Good heavens above. Makes Venice seem quite amateurish.

 

[classic33]

Southern Florida is going into the Gulf of Mexico

 

[AndyRM]

It's a helluva place. You could spend a considerable amount of time there and feel like you were somewhere new pretty much every day.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Just caught a stray sentence in the middle of the R4 reporting on the disaster ... that Mexico City is sinking, at the rate of 8 inches a year .

Thought I'd misheard ... but, no. Apparently true - some of the city has sunk as much as forty-two feet!

I'm a geotechnical engineer and generally the acceptable rate of settlement here is about 1 inch!. Buildings are often designed with this in mind so that they settle at the same rate during construction. I did hear about one tower block in Mexico City that settled so much, the ground floor became the basement over time!(although that was years ago on a geology field trip and we were in a pub. The lecturer could have made it up)

 

[growingvegetables]

I'm a geotechnical engineer and generally the acceptable rate of settlement here is about 1 inch!. Buildings are often designed with this in mind so that they settle at the same rate during construction. I did hear about one tower block in Mexico City that settled so much, the ground floor became the basement over time!(although that was years ago on a geology field trip and we were in a pub. The lecturer could have made it up)

Nothing much surprises me!

Years ago in Senegal, a friend visited a village in the far north - upriver from St Louis. Witnessed a guy who could only access his home, by climbing in and out of the kitchen window . The front face of his house was deep in the face of an enormous Saharan sand dune, advancing slowly but inexorably.

Eventually it would have covered the house. And rolled right over, I guess, letting the house re-emerge on the other side?

 

[captain nemo1701]

Nothing much surprises me!

Years ago in Senegal, a friend visited a village in the far north - upriver from St Louis. Witnessed a guy who could only access his home, by climbing in and out of the kitchen window . The front face of his house was deep in the face of an enormous Saharan sand dune, advancing slowly but inexorably.

Eventually it would have covered the house. And rolled right over, I guess, letting the house re-emerge on the other side?

In theory, but I would think the roof would probably collapse.