San Francisco nearly 200 meters high Millennium Tower nearly ten years sink about 41 centimeters, in the original easy to be squeezed on the Bay terrain continue to build tall buildings, the ground to add downward pressure, coupled with the threat of local sea level rise, scholars have a double hidden worry.
U.S. Geological Survey (US Geological Survey) experts Parsons (TomParsons) calculated the weight of each tall building near San Francisco, the total weight of the statistics up to 3.5 trillion pounds, equivalent to the weight of 7 million Boeing 747 aircraft pressed to make the Earth’s surface sink.
His research found that a century of development has left San Francisco with an average of 3.1 inches (about 7.9 centimeters) of local subsidence.
Parsons told The San Francisco Chronicle that part of the impact of the constant construction on the already squeezable bay terrain is to bring about tilted buildings and sinking ground.
Parsons’ study was published in the January issue of AGUAdvances, a journal related to Earth and space sciences. The 645-foot (197-meter) Millennium Tower in downtown San Francisco has sunk 16 inches (41 centimeters) in the past 10 years, and one side has sunk more than the other. It is well known that large buildings exert downward pressure, and engineers have been prepared for this. However, the overall impact of the weight of skyscrapers has not been studied in depth before.
Of the nearly 1 million buildings in the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose metropolitan areas, experts assess that the heaviest is San Francisco International Airport.
The San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose metropolitan areas, which are densely populated with buildings, weigh the most. Parsons evaluated the heaviest of nearly 1 million buildings in the local area to be San Francisco International Airport, followed by the electric car tesla factory, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Parnassus Medical Campus and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Parsons calculated the downward pressure exerted by the buildings and then simulated how the Earth’s surface would respond, arriving at the 779-foot (about 237 meters) skyscraper in downtown San Francisco, where the former Bank of America is located, putting the most pressure on the area, followed by the Millennium Tower.
Experts point to sea level rise as a potential threat to the San Francisco Bay Area. By 2050, sea levels in San Francisco Bay are predicted to rise by about 1 foot (about 30 centimeters), and by the end of the century, sea levels could rise by 3 feet (about 91 centimeters).
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