By 2040, a quarter of the world's largest cities could go under water: global warming has nothing to do with it

About 12 million sq. km of land will be below sea level - this is more than the area of ​​the United States, according to Lifehacker.

Photo: Shutterstock

Usually the main reason for possible land flooding is global warming, which will melt glaciers, thereby raising the level of the world's oceans. However, the new research scientists, published in the journal Science, says that part of the Earth's territories can go under water even before the ice finally melts.

The findings warn that land subsidence - the sinking of land surfaces - will affect 19% of the world's population over the next two decades. This environmental change will have serious economic consequences for many regions of the world.

An international group of scientists based on the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain analyzed data on soil subsidence in 200 places in 34 countries and came to disappointing conclusions. According to them, while maintaining the current geological processes, about 12 million square meters. km of land will soon be below sea level. This is more than the area of ​​the United States (9,8 million square kilometers) or China (9,5 million square kilometers).

The countries of South America, Africa and Asia are likely to suffer the greatest damage - they are expected to significantly change the landscape, as a result of which about 22% of the largest cities in the world with a population of more than 1,2 billion people could be affected.

The developed model calculated the economic consequences of land subsidence - by 2040, subsidence will affect 21% of the world's gross domestic product. The authors say that some parts of Asia are particularly susceptible to subsidence and the associated economic consequences, writes Labroots.

On the subject: Housing prices are plummeting: 40 US cities that will soon be under water

Subsidence in these zones will be caused by a wide range of natural or anthropogenic factors, including the extraction of oil, gas and other minerals, as well as the depletion of groundwater.

Over the next decades, global overpopulation, droughts and economic growth in developing countries could lead to a significant acceleration in the depletion of aquifers.

To prevent this from happening, scientists propose to develop special measures to combat soil subsidence, as well as at the legislative level to tighten control over the extraction of minerals and drainage of underground reservoirs.

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