Sustainable development and anthropogenic induced geomorphic hazards in subsiding areas

Abstract

In many areas of the world, subsidence related to the lowering of the water table is modifying the landscape and provoking costly environmental hazards. We consider the Dead Sea (the Earth's lowest lake) as a model. Its water level was 395 m bMSL in the 1960s. Due to water diversions in the catchment area, as of 2016, the level has dropped to about 430 m bMSL. Here, as in other parts of the Anthropocene world, from China, to Iran, to Turkey, to Canada and the United States, consequences of human interventions are rapidly modifying the environment. Aggressive geomorphic processes leading to accelerated degradations are taking place and affecting landforms and infrastructures. In Tectonic terms, the lake is a pull‐apart basin resulting from the motion of the Dead Sea Transform fault. Since the 1960s, a slice of brine of about 35 km3 has been lost. The water table is dropping more rapidly in the lake than in the coastal zone creating an ever‐increasing head difference. Consequently, groundwater moves towards the sea to compensate for the imbalance, provoking the reactivation of the area's paleo‐channels with subsidence, sinkholes, and landslides. Since the 1980s, industrial‐touristic infrastructure has covered newly emerging lands in geomorphic hazards‐prone areas of the coastal zone. Time series analysis of high to very high resolution visible/radar satellite images acquired from the 1970s to present, revealed major landscape evolution. Such dynamic systems prevailing in recent decades permitted the study of human/environment interactions to help minimize their effects. Major deformations of an industrial dike were analysed and quantified. The results underline the necessity in the Anthropocene of careful analysis of relevant data sources acquired before and during subsidence, particularly in karst topography zones and prior to the development of major human activities in economically appealing environments around the world. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Humans and the Earth's surface

“…Abou Karaki et al (2016) discuss the geomorphological consequences of a decreasing water table due to human activities. The Dead Sea was considered a useful case study.…”

Vulnerability of tourism development to salt karst hazards along the Jordanian Dead Sea shore

“…Investigations regarding the technical decision-making process for land-use and land-planning in Jordan have highlighted the weaknesses and the general framework in which industrial projects originate, are designed and realized (Abou Karaki et al, 2016).…”

“…3) sinkholes are developing in elongated clusters following geological discontinuities and underground flow paths (Abelson et al 2003;Closson, 2005;Closson and Abou Karaki, 2009a,b). Faults and fractures act as conduits that facilitate the displacement of the underground water towards the base level (Ezersky and Frumkin, 2013;Abou Karaki et al, 2016); 4) the difference in elevation between the riparian fresh groundwater and the base level leads to the circulation of underground water with high erosional capabilities (both chemical and mechanical) and increasing velocity along interconnected subsurface channels. One of the consequences is that dissolution can take place below the DS water level (Closson et al, 2013;Abou Karaki et al, 2016); 5) recent studies (e.g.…”

“…Faults and fractures act as conduits that facilitate the displacement of the underground water towards the base level (Ezersky and Frumkin, 2013;Abou Karaki et al, 2016); 4) the difference in elevation between the riparian fresh groundwater and the base level leads to the circulation of underground water with high erosional capabilities (both chemical and mechanical) and increasing velocity along interconnected subsurface channels. One of the consequences is that dissolution can take place below the DS water level (Closson et al, 2013;Abou Karaki et al, 2016); 5) recent studies (e.g. Abelson et al, 2017) have highlighted a connection between the rainfall regime in the recharge zones surrounding the DS basin and the development of sinkholes along the western shore.…”

“…This drastic change and its aftermaths leaded the DS region to become a natural laboratory for the Anthropocene studies (Abou Karaki et al, 2016). The expectation of an economic growth based on the natural DS resources is facing the reality of the human-induced geological hazards.…”