A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water. A cenote (pronounced in Mexican Spanish and in English, plural cenotes; from Yucatec Maya dzonot) is a type of Sinkhole Soil, often typeset as SOiL, is a four piece rock band from Chicago Illinois United States founded by Shaun Glass Tom Schofield Tim King and Adam Zadel Sinkholes may vary in size from less than a meter to several hundred meters both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. They may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide.
Mechanisms of formation may include the gradual removal of slightly soluble bedrock (such as limestone) by percolating water, the collapse of a cave roof, or a lowering of the water table. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 In Geology, Engineering, and Surveying, subsidence is the motion of a surface (usually the Earth's surface as it shifts downward relative to A cave is a natural underground void large enough for a human to enter The water table is the level at which the ground water pressure is equal to Atmospheric pressure. Occasionally a sinkhole may exhibit a visible opening into a cave below. In the case of exceptionally large sinkholes, such as Cedar Sink at Mammoth Cave National Park, USA, a stream or river may be visible across its bottom flowing from one side to the other. Mammoth Cave National Park is a US National Park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave the longest Cave system known in the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A stream is a body of Water with a current, confined within a bed and stream-banks
Sinkholes may capture surface drainage for running or standing water, but may also form in currently high and dry locations. Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area The state of Florida in the USA is known for having frequent sinkholes, especially in the central part of the state. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the The Murge area in southern Italy also has numerous sinkholes. Murgia (plural Murge) is a sub-region of Apulia (Puglia in southern Italy, corresponding to a karst topographic Plateau of rectangular Sinkholes can be formed in retention ponds from large amounts of rain.
Sinkholes are usually but not always linked with karst landscapes. Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble Bedrock, usually Carbonate rock such as Limestone In such regions, there may be hundreds or even thousands of sinkholes in a small area so that the surface as seen from the air looks pock-marked, and there are no surface streams because all drainage occurs sub-surface.
Sinkholes have been used for centuries as disposal sites for various forms of waste. WASTE is a Peer-to-peer and Friend-to-friend protocol and software application developed by Justin Frankel at Nullsoft in 2003 that features A consequence of this is the pollution of groundwater resources, with serious health implications in such areas. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability disorder harm or discomfort to the physical systems or living organisms they are in Groundwater is Water located beneath the Ground surface in Soil pore spaces and in the Fractures of lithologic formations Health is a state of complete physical mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Sinkholes also form from human activity, such as the rare but still occasional collapse of abandoned mines in places like West Virginia, USA. Mining is the extraction of valuable Minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually (but not always from an Ore body West Virginia ( is a state in the Appalachian Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by More commonly, sinkholes occur in urban areas due to water main breaks or sewer collapses when old pipes give way. A water supply network is a system of engineered Hydrologic and Hydraulic components including the watershed or geographic area that collects Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. They can also occur from the overpumping and extraction of groundwater and subsurface fluids.
Many sinkholes are also found in Northern Michigan. These are prominent in Alpena County in Northeast Michigan. In Lachine, Michigan you can find up to five very deep sinkholes with in 2 miles of each other. Alpena's visitor information cites their sinkholes as an attraction for visitors to the area. In August 1998 a 16 year old Alpena boy survived a 200+ foot fall in an open sinkhole 3/4 a mile off of Leer road in Lachine, Michigan (The Alpena News 8-21-1998). A majority of sinkholes in Alpena are also found underwater. Many divers explore these on a regular basis.
When sinkholes are very deep or connected to caves, they may offer challenges for experienced cavers or, when water-filled, divers. Caving or spelunking is the recreational Sport of exploring Caves In contrast Speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave Cave diving is a type of Technical diving in which specialized SCUBA equipment is used to enable the exploration of natural or artificial Caves which are Some of the most spectacular are the Zacatón cenote in Mexico (the world's deepest water-filled sinkhole), the Boesmansgat sinkhole in South Africa, Sarisariñama tepuy in Venezuela, and in the town of Mount Gambier, South Australia. Zacatón is one of a group of five interconnected Sinkholes, or Cenotes, located in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Boesmansgat, also known in English as " Bushman's Hole " is believed to be the third-deepest submerged freshwater Cave (or Sinkhole) in the world The Sarisariñama Tepui is a mountain in the Jaua-Sarisariñama National Park at the far south-west of Bolívar State, Venezuela, near the border A Tepui (or Tepuy) (ˈtɛpˌwi is a table-top mountain ( Mesa) found only in the Guayana highlands of South America, especially in Venezuela Mount Gambier (post code 5290 ( is the second most populous City in South Australia after Adelaide, the capital of the state
Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by ground water circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Sinkholes are dramatic because the land usually stays intact for a while until the underground spaces just get too big. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces then a sudden collapse of the land surface can occur.
In the United States, the most damage from sinkholes tends to occur in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.
Sinkholes can be human-induced - New sinkholes have been correlated to land-use practices, especially from ground-water pumping and from construction and development practices. Sinkholes can also form when natural water-drainage patterns are changed and new water-diversion systems are developed. Some sinkholes form when the land surface is changed, such as when industrial and runoff-storage ponds are created. The substantial weight of the new material can trigger an underground collapse of supporting material, thus causing a sinkhole.
The overburden sediments that cover buried cavities in the aquifer systems are delicately balanced by ground-water fluid pressure. The water below ground is actually helping to keep the surface soil in place. Ground-water pumping for urban water supply and for irrigation can produce new sinkholes In sinkhole-prone areas. If pumping results in a lowering of ground-water levels, then underground structural failure, and thus, sinkholes, can occur.
See also
- Cenote
- Great Blue Hole
- Karst topography
- Foiba
- Pipe Creek Sinkhole
- Sarisariñama
- Voçoroca
- Sinkhole Dersios
- Zacatón
- Sand Basin
- Oak Island
External links
- Florida Sinkhole Guide
- Kapsia Cave : Exploration of a Sinkhole in Arkadia, Greece
- Guatemala City, Sinkhole
- Video of Sinkhole forming in Texas
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic