Produced by: Manoj Kumar
South Africa’s land has been rising up to 2 mm per year—a shift first thought to be caused by deep mantle activity, but now linked to something far more surface-level: water loss.
A groundbreaking study from the University of Bonn revealed that severe drought—not geologic pressure—has caused the Earth’s crust to rebound as water mass vanishes.
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This uplift mirrors the effect of squeezing a foam ball: remove pressure (in this case, groundwater), and the surface springs back, an effect known as “elastic rebound.”
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From 2012 to 2020, GPS stations across South Africa recorded vertical rises of up to 6 mm—data that shifted scientific understanding of what was really happening underground.
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NASA’s GRACE satellite mission detected mass loss in soil and groundwater, aligning with GPS data and confirming a clear correlation between drought zones and land uplift.
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Geophysicists once blamed mantle plumes beneath the continent—but the new data suggests that uplift can occur without any deep-seated volcanic or tectonic activity.
During the 2015–2019 drought, Cape Town nearly hit “Day Zero.” At the same time, land in the Western Cape showed the highest uplift rates—linking extreme drought to measurable ground rise.
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Scientists now view land elevation shifts as a proxy for water loss, offering a new, non-invasive method to monitor groundwater levels in real time without drilling.
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With droughts intensifying worldwide, this research provides a powerful framework for tracking water stress in other regions—from California to the Horn of Africa.
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