How Do Sinkholes Happen?
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I recently blogged about a sinkhole that occurred in Guatemala a few days ago. The same thing happened in the same country 3 years ago. Things like these happen, but how? How do sinkholes happen? It is said that sinkholes are common in places with rocks such as limestone and gypsum because they can be naturally dissolved by water.
In those so-called “karst” areas, caves and voids form underground as the rocks dissolve. After heavy rains or extreme drought, sinkholes can suddenly form naturally as the underground spaces open up and can no longer support the land at the surface. Human activity, such as construction, can also lead to the same consequence.
While karst areas are most prone to natural sinkholes, infrastructure problems could lead to sinkholes anywhere. Since the world is getting overpopulated, people move on to karst areas and build structures there. Perish the thought if this would happen in your country right? I mean, one can never know that one gets swallowed by the sinkhole until it is too late.
After all, sometimes fractures in the ground or slight depressions can indicate that a sinkhole might be about to occur, but often the ground can collapse suddenly without warning and you will only realize once you are already at the bottom.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 8:23 am and is filed under life, nature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
