Anthropogenic Land Subsidence

Fluid removal from subsurface reservoirs, in the form of gas, oil, groundwater, geothermal water, and brine, produces a compaction of the depleted formations which migrates totally or partially to the ground surface thus inducing anthropogenic land subsidence. The paper presents: 1) a list of the major subsiding areas worldwide, 2) a review of the mechanism which causes a measurable settlement above aquifer systems and gas/oil fields, 3) a description of the currently available techniques to measure land subsidence and in situ rock compaction, 4) a brief description of some mathematical models to predict the magnitude of subsidence, and 5) a description of a few remedial options that are available to control the events and mitigate the related environmental impact