Sea level has risen on coasts where the land

has been subsiding as the result of human activities

such as groundwater extraction, which
depletes the aquifers under and around coastal
urban and industrial centres. As underground
water iswithdrawn, the sediments of the aquifers
are consolidated and compressed by the weight
of overlying rock formations (and buildings, if
any), and the loss in volume results in subsidence
of the land surface. This has contributed
to a relative sea level rise in the Venice region,
and around Bangkok in Thailand.
Relative sea level has risenwhere oil or natural
gas has been pumped from underground strata,
as in southern California and the Ravenna region
in Italy. Similar submergence has followed the loading of coastal land with artificial structures,
and some port and land reclamation
schemes, including the construction of artificial
islands, have caused subsidence and changes
in local tide regimes, raising relative sea level,
especially in bays and estuaries. A local rise in
relative sea level may follow the deepening of
nearshore areas as the result of dredging,with increased
tidal penetration. Shore walls and tidal
barrages built in the Thames and Medway estuaries
have resulted in higher high tides and
penetration further upstream of waves driven
by storm surges, effectively raising relative sea
level.