Many of the world's biggest river deltas — including the Nile, Amazon and Ganges — are sinking faster than global sea levels are rising, a new study shows.
This means subsidence is becoming the main driver of land loss, coastal flooding and saltwater intrusion at river deltas — surpassing the impacts of sea-level rise from climate change. Researchers also found that groundwater extraction is the biggest cause of subsidence at deltas globally, with urban expansion and declines in rivers' sediment loads contributing to the overall sinking trend.
