List of landmarks destroyed or damaged by climate change
Appearance
![Destroyed Qing dynasty era bridge with middle section destroyed following floodwaters.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/%E5%B1%AF%E6%BA%AA%E9%95%87%E6%B5%B7%E6%A1%A5%E8%A2%AB%E5%86%B2%E6%AF%81.jpg/220px-%E5%B1%AF%E6%BA%AA%E9%95%87%E6%B5%B7%E6%A1%A5%E8%A2%AB%E5%86%B2%E6%AF%81.jpg)
This is a list of significant natural or man-made landmarks that have been destroyed or damaged as a direct result or byproduct of anthropogenic climate change, such as by increased sea levels, exceptional rainfall or 100-year flooding, wildfires, and other exceptional natural disasters specifically linked to anthropogenic climate change.
List
[edit]Destroyed
[edit]Landmark | Location | Description | Destruction | Date Impacted | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Double Arch | Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah | 190 million-year-old sandstone geological formation | Collapsed due to changing water levels and erosion | 9 August 2024 | [1][2] |
Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve | Butte County, California | ~7,800-acre (3,200 ha) property owned and used for educational purposes by Chico State University | Almost completely destroyed by the Park Fire worsened by an ongoing heatwave. Destruction included a historic barn and university offices. | Late July 2024 | [3][4][5] |
St. Mary & St. George Anglican Church | Jasper, Alberta, Canada | Heritage Anglican church constructed in 1914 | Destroyed in the Jasper wildfire | 24 July 2024 | [6] |
Kellogg House | Rich Bar in Plumas County, California | Ghost town building containing original furnishings from the 1800s | Destroyed in the Dixie Fire | 23 or 24 July 2021 | [7] |
White Sulphur Springs | Napa County, California | Oldest warm mineral springs resort facility in Northern California, founded in 1852 | Destroyed in the Glass Fire | October 2020 | [8][9] |
Zhenhai Bridge | Tunxi District of Huangshan City, China | Ming dynasty-era large stone arch bridge and "Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in Anhui" | Destroyed in the 2020 China floods | 7 July 2020 | [10][11][12][13] |
Lecheng Bridge | Sanxi Town of Jingde County, China | Qing dynasty stone arch bridge and Provincial Cultural Relics Protection landmark | Destroyed in the 2020 China floods by torrential mountain downpours | 6 July 2020 | [12][13][14] |
Honey Run Covered Bridge | Butte County, California | The last three-span Pratt-style truss bridge in the U.S., built in 1886 and on the National Register of Historic Places | Destroyed in the Camp Fire, worsened by extreme weather conditions | 8 November 2018 | [15][16][17] |
Damaged
[edit]Landmark | Location | Description | Destruction | Date Impacted | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pyramidal structure in Ihuatzio | Ihuatzio, Mexico | Pyramid in the Ihuatzio Archaeological Zone, First seat of the Purépecha empire from 1200 to 1521 CE. | Heavy rainfall causing the collapse of the structure's central southern end | 29 July 2024 | [18] |
Great Mosque of Samarra | Samarra, Iraq | 9th-century mosque | Minaret weathered by more frequent and intense sandstorms | [19] | |
Temple of Ishtar | Babylon, Iraq | Temple in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon, capital of the Babylonian Empire | Salt accumulation from dried saltwater rivers causing cracking of the structure's bricks | [19] |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Mayorquín, Orlando (2024-08-10). "Famed Double Arch Collapses in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
- ^ "Popular Geologic Feature Collapses in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area - Glen Canyon National Recreation Area". U.S. National Park Service. 9 August 2024. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
- ^ Weber, Michael (July 30, 2024). "Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve office, historic barn lost in Park Fire". Chico Enterprise-Record. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
- ^ Porter, Greg (August 5, 2024). "July was the hottest month on record for California, new data shows". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
- ^ Lee, Jack (July 24, 2024). "California 'atmospheric thirst' is drying out the state. Map shows where flash drought is developing". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
- ^ Snowdon, Wallis; Frew, Nicholas (Jul 25, 2024). "Buildings in Jasper in ashes as 'monster' wildfire spans 36,000 hectares". CBC News. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
- ^ Alexander, Kurtis (4 August 2021). "Dixie Fire leaves Rich Bar, a Gold Rush-era ghost town, in ashes". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
- ^ SFGATE, Amy Graff (2020-10-08). "Glass Fire devours California's oldest resort". SFGATE. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
- ^ "Wildfires and weather extremes: It's not coincidence, it's climate change". www.cbsnews.com. September 17, 2020. Archived from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
- ^ Zhang Yanling (张燕玲) (11 July 2020). 安徽黄山将打捞被洪水冲垮的古桥原料:尽快原样修复. Chinanews.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- ^ Xu Peng (徐鹏); Zhao Jiahui (赵家慧); Liu Jun (刘军) (7 July 2020). 安徽黄山国家级文物保护单位屯溪镇海桥被洪水冲毁. cnr.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- ^ a b Yu, Katrina. "Climate change blamed for China flood disaster". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ a b "China braces for more rainstorms over weekend, climate change blamed". Reuters. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ Cao Qing (6 July 2020). 旌德一明代古桥被洪水冲坏 为安徽省重点文物保护单位. qq.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
- ^ Robertson, Michelle (November 10, 2018). "132-year-old Honey Run Covered Bridge, the last of its kind, destroyed by wildfire". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
- ^ "Camp Fire Children Face Trauma of Climate Change At Home, School". FRONTLINE. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
- ^ Pierre-Louis, Kendra (November 9, 2018). "Why Does California Have So Many Wildfires?". The New York Times.
- ^ "Heavy rains cause partial collapse of ancient pyramid in Mexico". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2024-08-09. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
- ^ a b Lynch, Hannah (2022-04-15). "Iraq's ancient buildings are being destroyed by climate change". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-13.