Humans suck water from the ground quickly enough to move Earth’s axis, a new study said.
Between 1993 and 2010, the tilt of the Earth shifted by 31.5 inches, corresponding with people’s worldwide withdrawals of underground water. Researchers published the findings in June in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Based on prior research, people pumped an estimated 2,150 gigatons of water from the natural ground reservoirs called aquifers during the study’s time frame. That’s enough to fill 860 million Olympic pools, The Washington Post noted.
The study said this amount of water equates to a global sea-level rise of about a quarter-inch. Displacement of this water, much of which serves irrigation purposes and ultimately flows to oceans, has happened faster than aquifer replenishment.
Continue here: TCD
