US Geological Survey scientists have reported that New York City is slowly sinking under its own weight. Combined with rising sea levels due to global warming and melting glaciers, this could lead to future flooding of the city. An article with the results of the study was published in the journal Earth's Future, a press release is available on the Phys.org website.

The land area on which the city is located is estimated to be sinking at an average rate of one to two millimeters per year. Scientists have calculated that the total weight of all buildings, the number of which exceeds a million, is about 1.5 trillion tons. This is comparable to the 4,700 buildings of the Empire State Building.

The rate of subsidence depends on the New York area. The skyscrapers in midtown Manhattan are mostly built on solid rock, while parts of Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan are on looser soil and sink faster. Although the process is slow, some parts of the city will inevitably be under water. Scientists predict that it will be hundreds of years before New York becomes the American version of Venice.

However, some areas of the city are at greater risk. The average height above sea level in the southern part of Manhattan is only one to two meters. Since sea levels are rising at about the same rate as the land is sinking, climate change could lead to catastrophic flooding from major hurricanes and storms.

Other cities in the world are also sinking. For example, San Francisco exerts significant ground pressure and active seismic faults in the region. In Indonesia, the government is preparing for a possible relocation of the capital from Jakarta, which is sinking into the Java Sea, and the construction of a new city on the high ground of a completely different island.