Relative ranges and rates of subsidence by physical properties

Relative ranges and rates of subsidence by physical properties (figure modified from oral and written communication, James Syvitski, 2013). Processes deeper in the Earth's crust (i.e., faulting and flexure of the lithosphere) contribute relatively little to land-surface subsidence rates (typically <1 millimeter per year (mm/yr)), deltaic sediment loading leads to lithospheric subsidence rates in key portions of the Mississippi Delta of ~0.15 ±0.07 mm/yr relative to the Chenier Plain, the common, long-term process that drives lithospheric subsidence throughout the Gulf of Mexico is glacial isostatic adjustment (at least 0.4 mm/yr along the central U.S. Gulf Coast), and compaction, fluid extraction, and growth faulting are potentially large factors with need of a major research effort, given their spatiotemporal variability.