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Attraverso un sistema di monitoraggio delle variazioni del terreno uno studio ha rilevato che la capitale cinese sprofonda di 11 cm ogni anno a causa del consumo idrico dei suoi 20 milioni di abitanti.

La notizia viene riportata dal Guardian e riassunta in italiano da MeteoWeb.

“We are currently carrying out a detailed analysis of the impacts of subsidence on critical infrastructure (eg high-speed railways) in the Beijing plain,” they said in an email to the Guardian. “Hopefully a paper summarising our findings will come out later this year.”

Beijing sits in a dry plain where groundwater has accumulated over millennia. As wells are drilled and the water table drops, the underlying soil compacts, much like a dried-out sponge.

The study finds that the entire city is sinking but the subsidence is most pronounced in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, which has boomed since 1990 with skyscrapers, ringroads and other development. The researchers say the uneven nature of the subsidence in some areas poses risks to buildings and other infrastructure.

 

Immagine da Wikimedia Commons