Sinkholes (also known as swallow holes or cenotes) are worldwide phenomenons that owe their occurrence to natural or artificial reasons. They are caused by a sudden or gradual caving in of a surface and the latest occurrence of a sinkhole has been seen in Fukuoka Japan where a giant sinkhole appeared to completely obliterate a part of a five lane road.
This massive sinkhole simply seemed to swallow up an entire street. Looking rather like a scene from a Hollywood disaster movie, the collapse occurred early morning on Monday on a busy street in Japan.
There were two holes to begin with and they expanded to become one. A traffic light fell in and the hold deepened to about 15 metres; filling with water from broken pipes.
Thankfully there was no loss of life. It is believed that the ongoing extension of a subway line nearby could have triggered the sinkhole occurrence.
Sometimes sinkholes occur because of natural erosion processes or when the underground water table level reduces. Sometimes they are caused by human activity such as the collapse of mines, salt cavern storage, sewer collapses, pipeline breaks, over-pumping or extraction of water and so on.
Earlier this year, a massive sinkhole swallowed up a part of a highway in Oregon, USA. This was the second sinkhole in the area in as many months.
This one was 90 metres deep and 20 metres across and swallowed whole a three storey shoe factory!
An entire bedroom floor gave way and swallowed up a man called Jeff Bush.
This is an underwater circular portion of the sea bed that collapsed just off the coast of Belize... rather like some incredible entry into the nether worlds!
This is a double nested sinkhole; 662 metres deep and 537 metres wide; some say this is the largest sinkhole in the world.
Dangerous sinkholes keep appearing along the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on earth with some of the saltiest water on earth.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
