Posted on 08/31/2005 9:13:48 AM PDT by bahblahbah
They don't bury the dead in New Orleans. The highest point in the city is only 6 ft. above sea level, which makes for watery graves. Fearful that rotting corpses caused epidemics, the city limited ground burials in 1830. Mausoleums built on soggy cemetery grounds became the final resting place for generations. Beyond providing a macabre tourist attraction, these "cities of the dead" serve as a reminder of the Big Easy's vulnerability to flooding. The reason water rushes into graves is because New Orleans sits atop a delta made of unconsolidated material that has washed down the Mississippi River.
Think of the city as a chin jutting out, waiting for a one-two punch from Mother Nature. The first blow comes from the sky. Hurricanes plying the Gulf of Mexico push massive domes of water (storm surges) ahead of their swirling winds. After the surges hit, the second blow strikes from below. The same swampy delta ground that necessitates above-ground burials leaves water from the storm surge with no place to go but up.
The fact that New Orleans has not already sunk is a matter of luck. If slightly different paths had been followed by Hurricanes Camille, which struck in August 1969, Andrew in August 1992 or George in September 1998, today we might need scuba gear to tour the French Quarter.
"In New Orleans, you never get above sea level, so you're always going to be isolated during a strong hurricane," says Kay Wilkins of the southeast Louisiana chapter of the American Red Cross.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Well, this wasn't exactly a revelation. New Orleans has been sinking for 200 years.
They have said Venice has been sinking for over 1,000 years.
That publication date sure looks spooky .
None of this will prevent a massive rebuild, thus laying the ground work for the next one.
Isn't this the case all over? Would the more geologically inclined clarify? Is the ocean level gradually rising and rising on all coasts?
NO sinking.. Say it AIN'T so.
Goulish!
I believe new satellite mappings have shown that New Orleans is sinking - and that was a few weeks before Katrina.
Solution: Raise it!
"New Orleans Is Sinking"
Bourbon blues on the street loose and complete
Under skies all smoky blue-green
I can Forksake the dixie dead shake
So we dance the sidewalk clean
My memory is muddy what's this river I'm in
New Orleans is sinking and I don't want to swim
Colonel Tom What's wrong? What's Going On
You can't tie yourself up for a deal
He said" Hey North you're south shut you big mouth
You gotta do what you feel is real."
Ain't got no picture postcards ain't go no souvenirs
My baby she don't know me when I'm thinking about those years
Pale as a light bulb hanging on a wire
Sucking up to someone just stoke the fire
Picking out the highlights of the scenery
Saw a little cloud looked a little like me
I had My hand in the river
My feet back up on the banks
Looked up to the lord above and said hey man thanks
Some time I fell so good I gotta scream
She says Gordie baby I know exactly what you mean
She said, she said I swear to god she said
My memory is muddy what's this river I'm in
New Orleans is sinking and I don't want to swim
by the Tragically Hip
The gulf coast is a special case. The government, it its infinite wisdom, decided it would be a good idea to force the Mississippi river on a specific path. Since the New Orleans area is built on silt deposited from the river, it has been sinking for decades. Without a replenishment of silt, the gulf will reclaim the land.
I really wish I hadn't read your tagline.
I hate those ads lol
New Orleans is a classic example of human carelessness and risk-taking -- you build a city, at and below sea level, in hurricane country, and you just keep building it without (obviously) protection against the worst case weather scenario...
It reminds me of films I watched of the big volcano on Hawaii erupting with lava pouring down the hillsides wiping out farms and houses. The people would then rebuild their entire home, again right in the path of the lava, and wait until it happened again, only to rebuild again.
Now, the question is, once New Orleans (and the other cities are cleaned up, what will they do to protect against another massive storm surge?
Maybe so, but you must admit, that little song fits stupid behavior....
Rebuild New Orleans on pontoons.
The ocean is not rising and causing this. All of southern Louisiana is deltaic deposits from the Mississippi. Over the last 50,000 years, the river has changed course many times (and is trying to now). The Chandelier Islands are old delta deposits that haven't been eroded back by the sea quite yet.
Before New Orleans was built and the river levees added later, the sediments were deposited and then gradually settled and consolitated. The deposits are tens of thousands of feet thick - they sit on what used to be the floor of the Gulf of Mexico - and they continually consolidate, but the settling out was not as rapid as the deposition of sediment over the entire delta - but given points settle faster than deposition over short (1,000 year) periods of time.
Now we have New Orleans pumping groundwater and all the sediments in the Mississippi going out to sea instead of spreading out over the lowlands during floods. The region continues to settle - but no new sediments are being added. So the sea has been moving in and claiming what used to be marshland. And the city itself keeps sinking - there is no way land below sea level could be dry without human intervention.
But when you build levees, you create a gradient that would not be there otherwise in a low-lying area. So if the levee does break, you have a flow gradient that will erode the levee apart and rapidly fill the basin.
And at that point, the levee keeps in the water.
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