Washington Descending

Nickolay Lamm/Data: Climate Central

Why is our nation's capitol going underwater faster than any other area on the East Coast? It's a double-whammy. First there is, of course, the slow but probably inexorable rise of the oceans caused by the melting of the glaciers due to climate change. And then, there's Washington's geology and something called "forebulge collapse," which has its roots in the last ice age. "During the last ice age, a mile-high North American ice sheet that stretched as far south as Long Island, N.Y., piled so much weight on the Earth that underlying mantle rock flowed slowly outward, away from the ice," according to this article. "In response, the land surface to the south, under the Chesapeake Bay region, bulged up. Then, about 20,000 years ago, the ice sheet began melting away, allowing the forebulge to sink again." New studies are showing just how much these two conditions will affect the region, and Congress might want to take note: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150728101212.htm