[Robert A Cook PE]

IF New Orleans were sinking due to building weight, ONLY the heaviest buildings would be going down: The WHOLE AREA is lowering (a very little bit due to ground water pumping - that's what began submerging parts of Baytown TX back in the early 70's) but NOT ENOUGH water is pumped out to cause the whole rea to keep going down.

Bldg foundations ONLY spread the load out in the immediate area of the building (most of which is spreadout BETWEEN the pilings, NOT even into adjacent bldg's, (much less into adjacent city blocks!).

More important, downtown NO is a very, very small area: less than 4 square miles. Most of which is 2-4 story buildings! (Very light weight, geologically speaking. There are only a few high-rises, and something like the Long Bridge weighs more than the buildings.)

[Gondring]

Uh, that was my point. I noted out that the lithospheric bending was from the sediment column, not the local effects of building weight or groundwater pumping (which is a greater effect in clays than silts, anyway, and especially insidious with hysteresis).

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my post. Thank you for clarifying.