Quote:
Originally Posted by Whirlaway
Check it out............pretty cool, when you think it is happening 120 below ground with skyscrapers (and tens of thousands of people) above.
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The new subway tunnels haven't opened yet, but the word is, they already smell like piss.
All kidding aside, it is fascinating to realize that Manhattan is (mostly) solid rock - schist, marble and gneiss. There is a gap in skyscrapers between downtown (Wall Street area) and midtown (Empire State building, Chrysler building, etc.). In between lies Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Chinatown, all the hip areas. I never knew that had nothing to do with zoning, but rather a valley in the bedrock that is too deep for the skyscrapers:
http://www.newyorknature.net/Geology.html
Key quote:
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"Schist forms the island’s spine from the Henry Hudson Bridge on its north end to the Battery on its southern tip; it dips abruptly several hundred feet below ground at Washington Square, and makes a gradual ascent beginning at Chambers Street. These dips and rises account for the gap between “midtown” and “downtown” in the Manhattan skyline, since tall buildings had to be anchored on solid bedrock, and not on the glacial till that fills the valleys."
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It is also fascinating to realize that those tunnels are about a hundred feet below sea level. Tropical Storm Sandy would flood them if they were not sealed tight.
AMAZING PHOTOS - NEW SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION IN MANHATTAN......
