GEMET
General
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Environmental
Thesaurus
subsidence
Definition

1) A sinking down of a part of the earth's crust, generally due to underground excavations. 2) The sudden sinking or gradual downward settling of the Earth's surface with little or no horizontal motion. The movement is not restricted in rate, magnitude, or area involved. Subsidence may be caused by natural geologic processes, such as solution, thawing, compaction, slow crustal warping, or withdrawal of fluid lava from beneath a solid crust; or by man's activity, such as subsurface mining or the pumping of oil or ground water.

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Scope note

Scope note is not available.

Concept URL: http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/concept/8163