Study shows a large part of West Texas is sinking at an alarming rate. About 4,000 square miles of West Texas is sinking at a rapid rate, according to a study done by Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Radar imagery shows a huge area from Midland to Reeves County is sinking.
What part of Texas is sinking?
Houston is the 10th-fastest sinking city in the world at 1.95 cm per year. It’s the only city in the Western Hemisphere to crack the top 10. Houston’s current rate of sinking combined with rising sea levels could cause the city to “disappear” by the year 2100.
Is the Permian Basin sinking?
Researchers at Southern Methodist University have found points all over the Permian Basin where the ground is sinking at 5 to 53 centimeters every year.
Is West Texas sinking?
Over almost three years, researchers tracking geological activity over four oil patch counties in the Permian Basin found that decades of oil activity and its effects on rocks below the earth’s surface has contributed to the area’s ground sinking and uplifting — including one area where the ground sank almost 40 inches
Is Midland Texas growing?
Midland has a 2020 population of 136,800. It is also the county seat of Midland County. Midland is currently growing at a rate of 1.59% annually and its population has increased by 3.23% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 132,524 in 2010.
What is the fastest sinking city in the US?
Houston is the 10th fastest sinking city in the world with a rate of 1.95 centimeters per year. The Southeastern Texas city is the only place in the Western Hemisphere included in the top 10 fastest sinking cities. The city sinking the fastest is Tianjin, China at a rate of 5.22 centimeters per year.
What city is sinking the fastest?
Jakarta
Jakarta, shown here, has been called the fastest-sinking city in the world.
Is Dallas TX sinking?
About 4,000 square miles of West Texas is sinking at a rapid rate, according to a study done by Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Radar imagery shows a huge area from Midland to Reeves County is sinking.
Which region of Texas has the greatest sinkhole risk?
According to a USGS map, the soil in East Texas contains considerable amounts of evaporates (salt, gypsum and anhydrite), which are susceptible to dissolution. In a perfect storm, a sinkhole, like the one that swallowed the resort in Florida, can form.
Is Houston Texas sinking?
Houston was listed tenth in the ranking, sinking 1.95 cm per year from 2015 to 2020, the report stated.
Where are sinkholes most common in Texas?
West Texas desert
The West Texas desert is home to two infamously large sinkholes. One, near the town of Wink — about 230 miles east of El Paso — opened up in 1980 near an abandoned oil well. The next, a mile away, appeared in 2002.
Can oil drilling cause sinkholes?
Geologists suspect the sinkhole formed as a result of historic (and by today’s standards outdated) oil production practices in the area whereby extractors pumped saltwater out from underneath the surface and left a void that the above layer of earth eventually collapsed into.
Which states have sinkholes?
The most damage from sinkholes tends to occur in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.
Why is Midland Texas rich?
Midland, population 113,000, is at the heart of the oil- and natural-gas-producing region known as the Permian Basin. The Permian Basin is the U.S.’s largest area in proven reserves of crude oil, accounting for a quarter of the nation’s supply, and the ninth in natural-gas proven reserves.
Is Midland TX rich?
And Midland, Texas has emerged as America’s “economic miracle city” with the highest per-capita income in the country ($83,049), higher even than average incomes in Silicon Valley ($65,679) by 26.4% and Washington, DC ($61,743) by 34.5%.
Is Midland TX a good place to live?
Midland is the 2nd Best Place to Live in Texas
That’s likely because we offer a wide variety of amenities, arts, culture, and natural wonders. It’s also possible due to the people here, who are open, friendly, and welcoming. Many folks rent a storage unit in Midland when they arrive.
Which cities will sink first?
There are numerous heavily populated sinking cities like Mumbai, Shanghai, NYC, and Miami at risk. With a population of 10 million, Jakarta is considered by some to be “the fastest-sinking city in the world” and is projected to be “entirely underwater by 2050”.
Is New York sinking?
The sea level off New York’s coast is up to 9 inches higher than it was in 1950. This increase is mostly due to the slowing of the Gulf Stream and New York’s sinking land, and it’s causing major issues.
Will Florida end up underwater?
For South Florida, the region with the most coastal real estate at risk, the sobering prediction is that the sea will continue to rise — about 11 inches by 2040 — but the latest forecast is markedly less than atmospheric modeling runs produced just five years ago.
What states will be underwater in 2050?
Here were six areas deemed particularly at risk:
- Louisiana seaboard.
- Washington state.
- Southern Florida.
- Western Oregon.
- The south-eastern coast.
- Southern California.
Which cities will be underwater by 2030?
Cities that could be underwater by 2030
- Amsterdam, the Netherlands. There’s a reason they’re called the Low Countries.
- Basra, Iraq.
- New Orleans, USA.
- Venice, Italy.
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
- Kolkata, India.
- Bangkok, Thailand.
- Georgetown, Guyana.