120-10 Evaluating the Causes of Land Subsidence in Texas's Gulf Coast and Turkey's Hatay Region

Session: Land Surface Subsidence: Processes, Impacts, and Ongoing Challenges

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Land subsidence is a globally ubiquitous problem for coastal communities and has affected hundreds of cities in dozens of countries with a total population of over 600 million residents. Subsidence is caused by a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors. The main anthropogenic processes that are known to cause subsidence include groundwater withdrawal, oil and gas extraction, mining activity and triggered geological processes such as reactivation of dormant faults.

Our recent study employed Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and geospatial deep learning techniques to analyze ground subsidence in several key locations around the world. In this presentation, we will discuss two case studies: the first focuses on fifty-six counties along the Texas coastline, extending from Louisiana to the Mexico border, covering an area of approximately 300,000 square kilometers. The second case study examines the Hatay region of Turkey, which was severely impacted by the Mw 7.8 earthquake in 2023, resulting in over 50,000 fatalities. We measured the rates of subsidence and identified the primary causes at both of these sites.

Along the Gulf Coast of Texas, subsidence rates averaged -3.75 cm per year in Harris County, with the northwest and southeast regions being the most affected. Waller County experienced even greater subsidence at -4.55 cm annually. Chamber County recorded a subsidence rate of -3 cm, while Karnes County had a rate of -2.12 cm per year, particularly near oil and gas fields. This subsidence was exacerbated by drought conditions and increased water extraction from 2006 to 2014. In Hidalgo County, subsidence was measured at -1.78 cm per year, mainly in the McAllen Ranch area. In Hatay Province, subsidence reached a significant rate of -12.3 cm per year. Our InSAR-SBAS analysis indicated that excessive groundwater extraction, thick alluvial deposits, and a probable fault contributed to these deformation rates.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

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