Human activities, particularly excessive groundwater extraction over the past few decades, have had devastating impact on the Earth stability, shifting the planet’s axis by approximately 31.5 inches (about 80 centimeters).

According to a new research by geophysicist Ki-Weon Seo of Seoul National University and his team, this tilt in the Earth’s axis occurred between 1993 and 2010, and could have devastating effects on multiple levels, including a surge in sea levels which could submerge coastal regions.

How groundwater depletion affects Earth’s tilt?

NASA scientists have explained the change in Earth’s axis by using the example of a spinning top. If you spin a top, it will continue to spin perfectly straight on its axis, but will immediately start to wobble if a small weight is attached to one part of the top, which slightly alters its balance.

The Earth is like a giant spinning top in space, and everything, including the oceans, mountains, glaciers, and the billions of tons of water hidden beneath the ground, lend a delicate balance to the planet, allowing to rotate at constant speed and angle.

However, when large amounts of groundwater are displaced one part to the another, it disrupts the Earth’s mass distribution is disrupted, altering its tilt ever so slightly. Scientists say the leverage created by this weight shift has forced the Earth’s rotational poles out of place.

Where did the water go?

Using computer models and satellite data, scientists have calculated that humans pumped out roughly 2,150 gigatons (2.15 trillion tons) of groundwater from natural underground water sources between 1993 and 2010, primarily to irrigate crops and for drinking purposes.

The extracted groundwater, sprayed on fields and used in cities, eventually flowed through rivers and streams into the world’s vast oceans, which means that water previously stored deep underground now spread across the Earth, becoming part of above ground water sources, and triggering a massive weight shift that directly affected the Earth’s axis.

Polar-motion model, using groundwater movement data, showed that it perfectly matched the Earth’s observed tilt, revealing that the groundwater release caused sea levels around the world to rise by approximately 6.24 millimeters (0.24 inches).

How this phenomenon will impact India?

Ki-Weon Seo’s research, published in Geophysical Research Letters, shows that shifting of water from the Earth’s center, the equator, has the most significant impact on the rotation of the poles, and large-scale groundwater extraction for irrigation and agriculture in western North America and northwestern India has been found to be the primary culprits in the Earth’s axis shift.

In India, excessive pumping for rice and other crops in areas like Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh has played a major role in disrupting the Earth’s balance globally, and Ki-Weon has expressed concern that among of all the climatic and natural causes of changes in the Earth’s poles, the massive redistribution of groundwater has been the most significant and dramatic.

Why groundwater is crucial for polar motion?

According to the study, Earth’s terrestrial water storage plays a significant role in controlling polar motion over various timescales. However, this new model revealed that long-term trends are driven not only by groundwater, but also by changes in snow-water storage due to changing snowfall patterns and the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

The highly advanced hydrological model called WaterGAP, considers the effects of groundwater and water stored in dams to be smaller, but still clearly detectable.

In 2026, scientists have introduced two new systems, ‘TWSTORE’ and ‘ML-TWiX’, which reconstruct historical water storage data from the past four decades (1980 to 2012) to provide a more accurate understanding of unsolved mysteries from the pre-satellite era.

What will be the impact of Earth’s axis shift?

While the tilt may sound trivial, scientists warn of grave consequences which might be triggered by disappearance of groundwater. According to researchers, excessive groundwater extraction has led to land subsidence in many parts of the world, endangering urban buildings and infrastructure.

A 2026 study of 40 major river deltas around the world in the journal Nature found that land subsidence in these fertile regions is now a greater threat than actual sea level rise. Groundwater depletion was found to be directly responsible for land subsidence in 10 of the 40 major deltas studied.

Additionally, due to the decreasing water level in wells and aquifers in coastal areas, sea water is rapidly entering freshwater sources, which is likely to exacerbate drinking water crisis and irrigation for agriculture purposes in the near future.