In Arizona, Utah, California and Texas, locals and scientists are noticing more and more giant cracks appearing in the ground. Geodesists have mapped 272 kilometers of such faults in the southern part of Arizona alone.

According to Arizona Geological Survey employee Joseph Cook, the cracks cannot be called natural formations. Massive subsidence and displacement of soil is caused by human activities that literally “bleed the Earth,” as more than 80% of known cases of subsidence are the result of groundwater exploitation. They serve as one of the main sources of freshwater in the world, providing almost 50% of all drinking water and approximately 40% of irrigation.

But humans are pumping water out of the planet much faster than the Earth can fill it. The growth of land development threatens to increase the problems of soil subsidence and the appearance of new cracks. Source