Engineering geology approach to the effects of land subsidence in Mexico City

Abstract

The modern Mexico Megacity occupies almost a third of the surface of the Valley of Mexico, and it is exposed to natural and man-induced hazards affecting many aspects of urban development. Land subsidence is a geo-hazard imposing important constraints in the urban development by the gradual decrease in elevation of the land surface. This is caused either naturally, by the extraction of water, oil, minerals, or gas from the subsurface, or by the interaction between natural and anthropogenic forces. In this field trip guide we examine regional land subsidence and the vulnerability to fracturing of the lacustrine soils. Groundwater has been over-exploited for human consumption in Mexico City during the past 70 years, leading to a dramatic decline of piezometric levels and the associated land and subsoil deformation. Interdisciplinary research from geologists and engineers may play an important role in understanding the relationship between geological processes and the suitability of land for urban use.

An Overview of Managed Aquifer Recharge in Mexico and Its Legal Framework

“…In Mexico City, another effect associated with over-pumping of groundwater and subsidence is the seismic damage in buildings and urban infrastructure. This city is a hot spot for earthquakes because it is situated between the North American Plate and the Cocos Plate [66]. Carreón-Freyre et al [57] suggest that there is a relationship between seismic damage and land subsidence.…”

“…Since the early 1940s, the MZVM began importing small volumes of water from the Estado de Mexico [1]. This decision was made because of the rapid increase in the population that demanded more water and the subsidence problems caused by overexploitation of groundwater from the local aquifer [1,66,76]. To the present, more than 25 percent of the total volume used for human consumption and productive activities is imported.…”

Long Term Subsidence Analysis and Soil Fracturing Zonation Based on InSAR Time Series Modelling in Northern Zona Metropolitana del Valle de Mexico

“…In fact, campaigns were executed in several regions in Mexico and in the south part of the ZMVM, showing their potential for soil fracturing identification (e.g., [9,12,[46][47][48][49][50]). Nevertheless, their usage would be costly both in terms of time and economics for complete fracturing investigation over the entire region of interest.…”

“…Existing studies in the Mexico Basin (e.g., [10][11][12][13]40]) suggest that the main component of the deformation is vertical. Thus, the line of sight (LOS) velocities (vLOS) were converted into vertical motion vs using the simple geometrical expression vs = vLOS /cosθ, where θ represents the satellite look angle, and used in our post-processing methodology.…”

“…Thus, techniques that enable immediate data generation for supporting decision making at low cost are required. Several multidisciplinary studies have been focused on the south of the Zona Metropolitana del Valle de Mexico (ZMVM) to measure, analyse and understand the subsidence problem (e.g., [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]). However, a few studies considered the entire northern ZMVM (e.g., [14][15][16]), characterized by significant urban sprawl over areas of geological risk (either natural and/or human-induced) and potential natural recharge zones for the aquifer.…”