Reza Shahbazi, the deputy for geology of the Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations Organization, told the ISNA news agency that new studies show that subsidence zones in parts of Iran have expanded and, in some areas, have become connected to one another.

He said that in the mid-2010s, about 10,000 square kilometers of the country’s plains had been identified as affected by subsidence, while this figure later increased to about 100,000 square kilometers.

Shahbazi named the provinces of Isfahan, Kerman, Tehran, Alborz, and Qazvin as “key provinces in terms of subsidence,” and added: “Isfahan Province and the city of Isfahan, Kerman Province and the city of Kerman, as well as Tehran and the southwest plain of Tehran are among the important areas in this regard.”

Regarding Tehran, he referred to the “associated zone comprising the provinces of Tehran, Alborz, and Qazvin,” saying that “the subsidence pattern in them is, to a large extent, linked to one another.”

Shahbazi also cited Razavi Khorasan, Mashhad, and the north of this city as other important areas, and said that in these areas too, ground subsidence has spread toward the inside of the city.