Washington D.C., the capital of the United States, is the seat of government power where Congress and the White House are located. However, a new study recently found out that it is powerless against a geographic phenomenon that is causing the city to slowly sink into the ocean.
A research conducted by the University of Vermont and the US Geological Survey (USGS), published by The Geological Society of America, warned that a mile-high ice sheet that pushed up the land under Chesapeake Bay in Washington D.C. has already melted during the past 20,000 years ago, causing the state to settle back down to its original topography.
The researchers came out with these findings after examining the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most rapidly subsiding and lowest-elevation surfaces, which borders the Chesapeake Bay.
"It's a bit like sitting on one side of a water bed filled with very thick honey... when you stand, the bulge comes down again," explained former USGS geologist Ben DeJong, one of the study's lead authors.
This phenomenon, called by geologists as the "forebulge collapse," will cause Washington D.C. to sink six or more inches into the ocean in the next 100 years.
Although not related to global warming and climate change, this phenomenon is expected to cause massive floods in the US capital.
Because of this, the researchers told authorities that now is the time to start making preparations in the event of floods.
"Six inches does not sound like much, but when you're in a landscape like the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, that's a lot of sea level rise," DeJong said
"I have worked alongside private land owners who have had family farms in the area for years and they are the first to tell you they are losing land," he added.
