Land Subsidence in California
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Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth's surface due to subsurface movement of earth materials. The main cause of subsidence in California is groundwater pumping. The effects of subsidence include damage to buildings and infrastructure, increased flood risk in low-lying areas, and lasting damage to groundwater aquifers and aquatic ecosystems.
Areas of Subsidence
Explore an interactive USGS map to learn more about areas in California affected by subsidence.
Explore SubsidenceDrought Indicators
Drought indicators in the Central Valley include declining groundwater levels and associated land subsidence as measured and estimated via multiple techniques.
Explore Drought DataMeasuring Land Subsidence
Land-surface elevations, and elevation changes, are measured with a variety of land- and space-based scientific techniques.
See the MethodsNews
Extensometer Hunters: Searching for Long-Lost Technologies in San Joaquin Valley
San Joaquin Valley: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the U.S. Geological Survey. Its weeklong mission: to explore strange new locations, to seek out abandoned scientific technologies, to boldly go where no scientist has gone before (at least in a few decades).
Publications
Land subsidence along the California Aqueduct in west-central San Joaquin Valley, California, 2003–10
Extensive groundwater withdrawal from the unconsolidated deposits in the San Joaquin Valley caused widespread aquifer-system compaction and resultant land subsidence from 1926 to 1970—locally exceeding 8.5 meters. The importation of surface water beginning in the early 1950s through the Delta-Mendota Canal and in the early 1970s through the...
Sneed, Michelle; Brandt, Justin T.; Solt, Michael
Geohydrology, geochemistry, and numerical simulation of groundwater flow and land subsidence in the Bicycle Basin, Fort Irwin National Training Center, California
Groundwater pumping from Bicycle Groundwater Basin (referred to as Bicycle Basin) in the Fort Irwin National Training Center, California, began in 1967. From 1967 to December 2010, about 46,000 acre-feet of water had been pumped from the basin and transported to the Irwin Basin. During this time, not only did water levels in the basin decline by...
Densmore, Jill N.; Woolfenden, Linda R.; Rewis, Diane L.; Martin, Peter M.; Sneed, Michelle; Ellett, Kevin M.; Solt, Michael; Miller, David M.
Water-resources and land-surface deformation evaluation studies at Fort Irwin National Training Center, Mojave Desert, California
The U.S. Army Fort Irwin National Training Center (NTC), in the Mojave Desert, obtains all of its potable water supply from three groundwater basins (Irwin, Langford, and Bicycle) within the NTC boundaries (fig. 1; California Department of Water Resources, 2003). Because of increasing water demands at the NTC, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in...
Densmore, Jill; Dishart, Justine E.; Miller, David M.; Buesch, David C.; Ball, Lyndsay B.; Bedrosian, Paul A.; Woolfenden, Linda R.; Cromwell, Geoffrey; Burgess, Matthew K.; Nawikas, Joseph; O'Leary, David; Kjos, Adam; Sneed, Michelle; Brandt, Justin T.