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Scientists Glimpse New York’s Perilous Path in an Ancient Patch of Marsh

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In Pelham Bay in the Bronx, an ancient salt marsh has provided a unique laboratory to study historic sea levels and perhaps see what lies ahead. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Image: In Pelham Bay in the Bronx, an ancient salt marsh has provided a unique laboratory to study historic sea levels and perhaps see what lies ahead. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times

nytimes.com - January 19th 2017 - Marc Santora

Surrounded by landmarks of modernity like Co-op City in the Bronx, a sliver of New York’s ancient past remains relatively untouched.

It is one of the city’s last salt marshes, a coastal ecosystem dominated by dense and sturdy stands of plants and grasses that has been trapping and binding sediments from the flow of the tides for thousands of years.

The sediment there tells a story of the past and, according to a new study, offers a dire warning about the future that corresponds with similar research conducted around the world.

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SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION FOR THE ARTICLE ABOVE IS WITHIN THE LINK BELOW . . .

. . . “the biggest surprise in all this is how expensive it all is — more expensive than expected . . . And the finding that protecting 500-plus miles of New York City shorelines from 100-year floods, plus sea level, may prove to be too expensive.”

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Relative sea-level trends in New York City during the past 1500 years

Andrew C Kemp, Troy D Hill, Christopher H Vane, Niamh Cahill, Philip M Orton, Stefan A Talke, Andrew C Parnell, Kelsey Sanborn, , Ellen K Hartig

The Holocene - First published date: January-09-2017

10.1177/0959683616683263

 
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