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Greenhouse-induced climate warming increasingly appears to be a reality, and the warming climate will be accompanied by an accelerated sea level rise - as much as 60-100 cm over the next century. What is commonly absent in the discussion of rising sea level, however, is the role played by the subsidence of low-lying coastal areas, which can have a far greater local effect than the eustatic rise of the sea. The combined sea-level rise and land subsidence will almost certainly make the greatest impact on coastal societies in the densely populated regions of southern Asia, but its effects will be felt globally.
This volume explores the concepts of sea-level rise and coastal subsidence, both natural and anthropogenically accelerated, in the form of a series of case studies in such diverse locations as Bangkok, Bangladesh, Venice, and the Niger and Mississippi deltas, as well as a discussion of the economic, engineering and policy responses that must be considered if the effects of local sea-level rise are to be mitigated.
List of contents
Introduction: Sea-level Rise and Coastal Subsidence - Towards Meaningful Strategies.- I: Processes and Problems.- 1 Global Sea-level Rise: Past and Future.- 2 Land Subsidence in Coastal Lowlands.- 3 River-Sediment Inputs to Major Deltas.- 4 Coastal Erosion and Rising Sea-Level.- II: Case Studies.- 5 Land Subsidence in Bangkok during 1978-1988.- 6 Coastal Erosion in the Gulf of Thailand.- 7 Nature of Sediment Load in the Ganges-Brahmaputra River Systems in India.- 8 Subsidence of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta of Bangladesh and Associated Drainage, Sedimentation and Salinity Problems.- 9 Tectonic, Eustatic and Isostatic Changes along the Indian Coast.- 10 Effect of Sea-Level Rise and Human Activity on the Yangtze Delta, China.- 11 Rising Sea-Level and Subsidence of the Northern Nile Delta: A Case Study.- 12 Land Subsidence and Sea-Level Rise: The Case of the Po Delta Region, Italy.- 13 The Niger Delta and Sea-Level Rise.- 14 Sea-Level Rise and the Stability of Barrier Islands, with special reference to the Wadden Sea.- 15 Subsidence, Sea-Level Rise, and Wetland Loss in the Lower Mississippi River Delta.- III: Strategies.- 16 Economizing Human Responses to Subsidence and Rising Sea Level.- 17 Man-Made Projects and Relative Sea-Level Rise.- 18 Impact of Sea Level Rise on Flood Control in Bangkok and Vicinity.- Coastal Vulnerability: Hazards and Strategies.- List of Contributors.- Geographic Index.
Summary
Explores the concepts of sea-level rise and coastal subsidence, both natural and anthropogenically accelerated, in the form of a series of case studies in such diverse locations as Bangkok, Bangladesh, Venice, and the Niger and Mississippi deltas.
