SEMİNER | Prof. Falk Amelung "Coastal Subsidence on Miami’s Barrier Islands" (10.01.2025)

10 Ocak 2025 Cuma günü Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Kandilli Rasathanesi ve Deprem Araştırma Enstitüsü Yönetim binası toplantı salonunda Prof. Falk Amelung (University of Miami, USA) tarafından "Coastal Subsidence on Miami’s Barrier Islands" konulu seminer düzenlendi.

Konu: Coastal Subsidence on Miami’s Barrier Islands

Özet: 
Following the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside in June 2021, there has been increasing interest on the geology of Miami’s barrier islands. In this study we use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to examine subsidence phenomena . We document vertical displacements ranging from 2 to 8 cm, affecting a total of 35 coastal buildings and their adjacent areas. Subsidence largely occurs at newly constructed buildings or at buildings with new construction in their vicinity. This correlation suggests that subsidence is related to the construction activities. In fact, in the northern and central parts of Sunny Isles Beach, where 23 percent of the coastal structures have been built in the last decade, almost 70 percent of them are experiencing subsidence. We attribute the observed subsidence to load-induced, prolonged creep deformation of the sandy layers within the limestone which is accelerated, if not instigated, by the construction activities. These observations highlights the profound effects of construction activities on new and surrounding buildings on karstic barrier islands: creep deformation of sandy layers can continue for decades after construction. This study highlights the potential of the InSAR technology for both understanding subsidence and the local geology, and for monitoring building stability.