BLACKSBURG, Va. – A new study led by Virginia Tech has revealed that the entire Chesapeake Bay Region is sinking.
“The Chesapeake Bay is a region of financial, historical, and ecological value, and it’s worth understanding what we can predict in terms of sea-level changes in the future.”
Karen Williams, recent geosciences Ph.D. graduate and study’s first author
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Cities in the region have different rates of subsidence, with Ocean City, MD, and Hampton, VA sinking around 2.4 millimeters and 2.3 millimeters each year, respectively.
The research was intended to get more precise rates at which the area is sinking and to understand why. Researchers also wanted to understand how it could impact coastal hazards.
Data was collected from over 60 temporary sites across the region every year for five years.
“Sea level isn’t just about the ocean rising. It’s also about what the land is doing. If the ground is sinking while the water is rising, the effect adds up.”
D. Sarah Stamps, associate professor in the Department of Geosciences
The data was then compared to the data collected in similar measurements from 1974.
“We found a little bit of a range, including some areas that showed subsidence rates have increased and some areas where subsidence rates have decreased since the 1970s. But all in all, after creating the final interpolated solution, we find that the regional signal of subsidence was up to 3 millimeters per year.”
Karen Williams, recent geosciences Ph.D. graduate and study’s first author
Researchers are looking into "localized groundwater withdrawal as well as long-term tectonic movements — specifically the retreat of ancient glaciers" as the two main reasons for the sinking.
You can read the full write-up from Virginia Tech here.