• monkeyslikebananas2@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      IDK that seems scarier to me. If the whole thing is sinking evenly, what happens if/when whatever is holding it up gives way completely? Is the whole city going to fall into a sinkhole? Will there be stories of the lost city of Mexico City in a few thousand years?

      • deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz
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        21 hours ago

        There’s an aquifer under the city that supplies the city’s water which they’re pumping dry.

        The relentless pumping of groundwater and extensive urban development have severely depleted the underlying aquifer.

        • monkeyslikebananas2@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          Yeah that’s what made me think, “what happens when there’s a giant cavity under the city and the water is gone?”

          • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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            20 hours ago

            All of the clay gets compressed which means the water can’t drain into the ground anymore and the underground drainage canals get damaged. And then the city turns back into a fucking lake after it goes between drought and flooding because the only way to create a surface water reservoir is to turn the now sunken city back into a goddamn toxic and polluted lake/marsh. That or attempt to geoengineer it into a desert which also defeats the purpose of human habitation. Eventually “fixing” the problems will become more expensive than what they’re worth for more development but nobody really knows where that inflection point lies for the valley of Mexico.