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Swallowed Up By The Ground: Sinkholes!


Here's a more detailed account of the recent Croatian sinkhole outbreak ...
Scientists baffled by sudden increase in sinkholes

Scientists are baffled by the rapid appearance of over 100 sinkholes in Croatia.

The unprecedented phenomenon began after two massive earthquakes struck central Croatia in December 2020. The earthquakes were 5.2 and 6.3 on the Richter scale and killed seven people near the town of Petrinja.
Scientists believe the geological events triggered the chasms but what’s perplexing is the speed at which the sinkholes are developing.

“Experts say that these sinkholes would have formed naturally anyway over time, but the earthquake acted as sort of a catalyst which sped up the whole process, unfortunately. And then we saw smaller sinkholes appearing in the ground,” Nenad Tomasevic, a local, told the Associated Press. ...

Meanwhile, low-level tremors are continuing to force more sinkholes to open up. ... Thus far, the largest sinkhole is 30 meters wide and some are as deep as 15 meters. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientists-baffled-sudden-increase-sinkholes-212829973.html
 
One would have to ask if this was a town or area noted for mining, or a limestone area, this might go some way toward explaining the abundance of sinkholes.
The articles clearly say that: Croatia has karst. Sinkholes are common here. Scientists aren't "baffled" as the typical BS headlines suggest. What seems plausible is that the groundwater levels may have been just right to promote subsurface movement of loose material in response to the earthquake that caused the sinkholes to pop open at the surface. The void already exists underground in the bedrock. The shaking caused the loose material to move through fast and the open space "migrates" to the surface, which collapses. Often earthquakes cause sand blows or some other surface disturbance due to liquefaction. Karst is a sensitive system. Any little thing can cause a big effect.
 
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The pandemic lockdown conditions seem to have forced sinkholes inside residences in Israel.

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Sinkhole in living room
3-meter deep hole opens in family living room in Ramat Gan apartment.

Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama posted a picture of an apartment in his city on his Facebook page Tuesday showing a three-meter deep sinkhole in the middle of the living room.

Shama said the hole was opened following a nearby construction project, and promised that the incident would be investigated.

Police evacuated the building's occupants. "The pit opened in a way that endangered the occupants of the place and there is a fear of a general collapse of the building" ...
FULL STORY: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/304696
 
That looks kinda painted on. ...

If not for the sofa tipping downward at the edge of the pit one might understandably wonder whether this was one of those optical illusion paintings (akin to street art as seen in the optical illusions thread).
 
I'm guessing the tiles are overhanging in some places? This is one of my worst nightmares :(

I've never had a sinkhole open up in a room but I did have a ceiling collapse. The guy who fixed it had a look at it before he went for materials and told me not to sit under it. He seemed serious about it.
 
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Massive sinkhole threatens house in central Mexico

A huge sinkhole some 60 meters in diameter has appeared in farmers' fields in central Mexico, threatening to swallow a nearby house.

The sinkhole is situated in Santa María Zacatepec, Puebla state, and is around 20 meters deep, said state governor Miguel Barbosa Huerta at a press conference Monday.

Barbosa said the family that lives close to the sinkhole has been evacuated. No one has been injured so far, but the governor warned local residents to stay away from the area. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/02/americas/sinkhole-puebla-mexico-scli-intl/index.html
 
Cars fall into sinkhole in Jerusalem hospital car park


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-57393101

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news...jerusalems-shaare-zedek-medical-center-670330

"A portion of a parking lot collapsed into a giant sinkhole at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, Israel Police reported.

After eight fire and search-and-rescue crews searched for people who may be trapped underneath the rubble, police determined that nobody had been injured in the incident.

The sinkhole fell near where tunnels are being dug on Highway 16. The Jerusalem Affairs Ministry added that they are currently investigating a connection between the two."
 
This sinkhole (-style?) incident was caused by the collapse of a sealed well in Mumbai rather than a "natural subsidence" sinkhole.

MumbaiWellSinkhole.jpg
Viral video shows sinkhole swallowing parked car at housing society in Mumbai

A parked car fell into a sealed well at a housing society in Mumbai's Ghatkopar on Sunday. A viral video of the incident, recorded by the vehicle owner, shows a section of the concrete parking area caving in and subsequently swallowing the four-wheeler.

The incident took place on the premises of the Ram Nivas society in Ghatkopar on Sunday. Residents say there is a well that runs 50 feet deep, located inside the compound. This well, nearly 100 years old, was sealed using reinforced concrete in order to make parking space for the society's residents.

On this particular occasion, the reinforced concrete was washed away in the heavy rain that lashed Mumbai earlier this week. This resulted in that section of the parking area engulfing the car ...
FULL STORY (With Photos & Video): https://www.indiatoday.in/cities/mu...ealed-well-bmc-viral-video-1814335-2021-06-13
 
A large sinkhole opened up on Australia's Limestone Coast just before this past weekend.

Sinkhole appears at Limestone Coast tourist spot as holidaymakers urged to avoid unstable clifftops

Holidaymakers flocking to coastal areas this long weekend have been urged to stay away from unstable cliffs after a huge hole opened up on South Australia's Limestone Coast without warning.

The hole — the size of half a tennis court — appeared suddenly along the coastline of the popular tourist town of Robe. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-10/sinkhole-limestone-coast-opens-up-/100203636

Huge Coastal Sinkhole That Could Suck People Into Ocean Appears Overnight

Visitors to a clifftop path, where a huge sinkhole has appeared overnight, have been urged to stay away in case they are "sucked out into the ocean."

The sinkhole appeared on a coastal trail in the fishing town of Robe on south Australia's Limestone Coast, the District Council of Robe said in a Facebook post.

The hole sits close to a geological phenomenon known as a blowhole, or marine geyser, which is near the red and white Robe Obelisk, which was erected in 1852 to guide ships. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.newsweek.com/coastal-sinkhole-suck-people-ocean-appears-overnight-1599411

Huge sinkhole bursts open near underwater 'blowhole' in South Australian coast

In the middle of the night on Thursday (June 10), the ground near the Southern Australian tourist town of Robe suddenly gave way. Locals awoke to find an enormous sinkhole, roughly 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter, had opened along the picturesque Limestone Coast — and citizens are now being urged to stay away for fear that the hole could collapse even further, Australian news outlet ABC.net reported. ...

Australia's 200,000-year-old Limestone Coast faces considerable erosion from the constant saltwater waves lapping at its edges, but there may be other forces at play there, too, Patrick Hesp, a coastal studies expert at Flinders University in Adelaide, told ABC. Recent heavy rains and ocean swells likely contributed to the sinkhole's appearance ...

The hole is also located close to a natural underwater geyser known as a blowhole, Newsweek reported. Blowholes form as waves erode cliffside caves, sloshing their way deeper into the cliff and eventually vertically toward the surface. Occasionally, water sprays from the top of these holes, usually during high tides.

... [W]hile the blowhole hasn't blown for several years, the constant wave action in the area has been gradually undercutting the cliffs, making collapses like this one more likely. An investigation of the hole revealed that the site is still unstable, and likely to collapse further ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/huge-si...water-blowhole-in-south-australian-coast.html
 
Needs to be Corked.

A Cork family was forced to evacuate their family home following a large water leak that collapsed the driveway creating a large sinkhole that partly swallowed their car.

But worryingly as well as the huge hole in McGrath Park in Blackrock, father of three Gary O’Donovan has also spotted cracks in their home.

Inspectors from Irish Water and the emergency services were on site early Sunday morning.

Mr O’Donovan said: “It’s horrific. We are out of the house, there are structural cracks in it. It looks like the water was flowing under the house all night.”

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40318172.html
 
Well, this is a mess.
Sinkhole swallows part of Karachi market in Pakistan.

 
When driveways attack ... A sinkhole opened in a Florida driveway and one of the household's two vehicles fell in.

FL-Sinkhole-210813.jpg

Large hole swallows car in Palm Harbor driveway

A car was swallowed by a large hole that opened up in a driveway at a Palm Harbor home Friday morning. A second vehicle also was teetering at the edge of the hole. ...

The hole is about 10 feet by 10 feet in size, fire officials said in a news release.

Fire officials said the hole is about 10 to 15 away from the residence. The people who live there were evacuated as a precaution and the scene was “taped off and isolated" ...

Fire officials said the Pinellas County Building Department had been called in for an inspection. A county spokesperson said no obvious structural damage was found to the house and the people who live there won’t have to move out.
SOURCE: https://www.tampabay.com/news/pinellas/2021/08/13/large-hole-swallows-car-in-palm-harbor-driveway/
 
I work in the environmental field. There are a hell of a lot more sinkholes occurring right now that don't get covered by the news. Streams going dry, huge holes opening up on private property... July through October (storm season) is a time for sinkholes to pop all over the US.
 
I work in the environmental field. There are a hell of a lot more sinkholes occurring right now that don't get covered by the news. Streams going dry, huge holes opening up on private property... July through October (storm season) is a time for sinkholes to pop all over the US.
Is this caused by the water table falling dramatically, or by a sudden downpour of rainfall into the ground?
 
Is this caused by the water table falling dramatically, or by a sudden downpour of rainfall into the ground?
Often, both together. Directed water acts like drain cleaner in the subsurface karst. When the clay regolith shrinks because of dry weather, it's much easier to wash out.
 
Hole & Crack in The Butts Causes Amusement

News of a sinkhole which appeared in a road called The Butts has caused amusement among a town's residents on social media.
A plethora of puns followed a police post on Facebook, with one person saying: "That can't be worded in a way that isn't amusing".
The county council said staff were looking into the suspected sinkhole.

Police checked the hole at about 18:30 BST on Sunday, and said it was believed to be between 10 and 15 feet (up to 4.5 metres) deep.

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Which is worse, a sinkhole that drops you 15 feet, a sinkhole filled with riling, turbid waters, or a sinkhole that leave only your echo behind as your last words?
 
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