Sunday, December 21, 2014

Prearcheology of San Francisco

Sea level is likely to rise by about 5 m (16 feet) in the next 85-200 years.  In San Francisco this will flood the Market Street area, the lower Mission district and parts of the Marina district.  

Lower Market Street was an area of tidal mud flats when the 49ers began to pour into San Francisco during the 1849 gold rush. The crews of the ships that ferried the gold miners to SanFrancisco would abandon their ships and follow the gold miners heading off to the gold fields in the Sierra Nevada.   Hundreds of ships were abandoned 

Eventually the mud flats were covered over as the city of San Francisco began growing rapidly.  The abandoned ships were covered over as well.  It's not unusual for fragments of gold rush ships to be found when excavations are made to set the foundations for modern buildings being constructed in downtown San Francisco today

A hundred years from now the waters of San Francisco Bay will be rising rapidly.  The ground level floors of buildings along Market Street will be flooded.  Market Street will mostly be underwater. These buildings will have to be abandoned just as hundreds of sailing ships were abandoned in 1849, and eventually they'll collapse into their own foundations and settle into the same mud.


No comments:

Post a Comment