* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Sunday, August 3, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn, Warnock introduce CREATE Act to provide tax relief to music creators – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn and Warnock Launch CREATE Act to Deliver Tax Relief for Music Creators

    That’s (Political) Entertainment: When Theatre Meets Politics

    Future Script: How Generative AI Is Changing Collective Bargaining in the Entertainment Industry – Jackson Lewis

    Future Script: How Generative AI Is Transforming Collective Bargaining in Entertainment

    The SBA’s live-entertainment bailout was supposed to end two years ago. We still don’t know how $1.5 billion was spent. – Yahoo Home

    $1.5 Billion Live-Entertainment Bailout: Two Years Later, Where Did the Money Go?

    Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, Boyd – CDC Gaming

    Top Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, and Boyd Take Center Stage

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Livonia police use grappler technology to stop drunk driver – ClickOnDetroit | WDIV Local 4

    Livonia Police Deploy Grappler Technology to Safely Stop Drunk Driver

    Emory orthopaedic surgeons use robotic technology to transform knee replacement surgery – Emory News Center

    How Robotic Technology is Revolutionizing Knee Replacement Surgery

    Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue … – Yahoo.co

    Cognizant Q2 2025 Earnings: Impressive Revenue Growth and Key Takeaways

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    More than just a hockey player – Rochester Institute of Technology Athletics

    Beyond the Ice: The Inspiring Journey of a Remarkable Athlete from Rochester Institute of Technology

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn, Warnock introduce CREATE Act to provide tax relief to music creators – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn and Warnock Launch CREATE Act to Deliver Tax Relief for Music Creators

    That’s (Political) Entertainment: When Theatre Meets Politics

    Future Script: How Generative AI Is Changing Collective Bargaining in the Entertainment Industry – Jackson Lewis

    Future Script: How Generative AI Is Transforming Collective Bargaining in Entertainment

    The SBA’s live-entertainment bailout was supposed to end two years ago. We still don’t know how $1.5 billion was spent. – Yahoo Home

    $1.5 Billion Live-Entertainment Bailout: Two Years Later, Where Did the Money Go?

    Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, Boyd – CDC Gaming

    Top Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, and Boyd Take Center Stage

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Livonia police use grappler technology to stop drunk driver – ClickOnDetroit | WDIV Local 4

    Livonia Police Deploy Grappler Technology to Safely Stop Drunk Driver

    Emory orthopaedic surgeons use robotic technology to transform knee replacement surgery – Emory News Center

    How Robotic Technology is Revolutionizing Knee Replacement Surgery

    Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue … – Yahoo.co

    Cognizant Q2 2025 Earnings: Impressive Revenue Growth and Key Takeaways

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    More than just a hockey player – Rochester Institute of Technology Athletics

    Beyond the Ice: The Inspiring Journey of a Remarkable Athlete from Rochester Institute of Technology

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

What causes a sinkhole to form?

October 11, 2023
in Science
What causes a sinkhole to form?
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Sinkholes can be the stuff of nightmares: the ground suddenly opens up to swallow a car, a home or an entire block. But such extreme damage, formally referred to as “catastrophic ground cover collapse” in insurance parlance, is actually quite rare.

Instead, sinkholes are generally smaller depressions that may become a pricey nuisance rather than a life-threatening disaster.

What’s a sinkhole?

Sinkholes typically form when naturally acidic rainwater erodes underlying bedrock, creating damage beneath the surface. Their formation is most common in easily erodible karst terrains with carbonate rocks, like limestone or dolomite, or minerals known as evaporites, like salt and gypsum.

When groundwater seeps into cracks and then pools beneath the surface, it wears away these rocks and leads to the formation of underground caves and other openings. Soil particles fall into these gaps too, enlarging the chasms and facilitating the collection of more water.

A sinkhole forms when these chewed-up sublayers can no longer support surface sediments hovering over the void left by erosion. Usually, little or no change is noticeable from above as this destructive process is underway, which could take hundreds or thousands of years. Drought or heavy rain can exacerbate sinkhole risk, as can human activities like heavy pumping of groundwater or construction.

There are two types of sinkholes: Slow-growing cover-subsidence sinkholes are the most common, but cover-collapse sinkholes can appear in just a matter of hours and are triggered in roughly the same way as their slower-growing counterparts—collapsing when the roof of a cave becomes too thin to support the weight above.

Where do sinkholes occur?

Most reported damage from sinkholes in the U.S. occurs in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Florida is particularly known for its sinkholes since its sandy soil sits atop its Swiss cheese-like limestone.

There’s no database for sinkholes in the U.S. so there’s no comprehensive count of how many sinkholes form each year, but the Geological Survey suggests the price tag for known damage from the formations amounts to some $300 million annually. Much of that damage is to highways, other roads and buildings. Yet these costs are lower than those of other natural hazards including hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, earthquakes and wildfires—all events that usually leave more than $1 billion of damage in their wake each year.

Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection notes sinkhole risk assessments remain challenging since expensive geophysical survey techniques or test drilling are the only ways to detect underground cavities. Rarely, sinkholes are presaged by cracks or slumping.

Other locales with known sinkholes include the Dead Sea, since salt also easily breaks down, and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, which is often riddled with sinkholes due to its limestone.

What do sinkholes look like?

Sinkhole sizes vary dramatically—they can be a few feet or stretch to hundreds of acres. Their depth varies too: Some are less than one foot deep whereas others are more than 100 feet.

Sinkholes can look like shallow bowls or like a collapsed void with steep, vertical walls. When water collects in sinkholes, sometimes ponds are formed.

Sinkhole attractions

Some sinkholes have also become tourist attractions. In February 2014, for example, a sinkhole opened up overnight and swallowed classic cars at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. No one was in the building at the time, but security cameras caught the incident on camera. The incident subsequently fueled tourism and the museum opened up a dedicated exhibit two years later.

The world’s biggest known sinkhole is China’s Xiaozhai Tiankeng which is both the deepest and largest sinkhole in the world. It’s more than 2,000-feet long and extends roughly the same distance downward. The word Tiankeng means “The Heavenly Pit.” The sinkhole’s home to more than 1,000 types of animals and plants, including the clouded leopard, according to the Chinese government, and a huge staircase has been built inside the sinkhole to help facilitate area tourism.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : National Geographic – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/sinkhole

Tags: causessciencesinkhole
Previous Post

3 of the best sites in Peru’s Sacred Valley to see by rail

Next Post

‘No one is safe’: Bedbugs are everywhere—and they’re very good at what they do

Endemism shapes viral ecology and evolution in globally distributed hydrothermal vent ecosystems – Nature

Endemism shapes viral ecology and evolution in globally distributed hydrothermal vent ecosystems – Nature

August 2, 2025
Scientists Finally Reveal the Hidden Trigger Behind Lightning Strikes

Scientists Finally Reveal the Hidden Trigger Behind Lightning Strikes

August 2, 2025
Young minds explore science at NDSU summer research program – InForum

Young Minds Ignite Curiosity at NDSU Summer Science Research Program

August 2, 2025
PlayStation Preparing to Release More Games on Xbox – Report – PlayStation LifeStyle

PlayStation Gears Up to Launch Exciting New Games on Xbox

August 2, 2025
Lexington County hits a home run hosting the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series – WLTX

Lexington County Hits a Home Run Hosting the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series

August 2, 2025
Some rural Texans see THC as a lifeline for their health and economy – The Texas Tribune

How THC Is Revolutionizing Health and Sparking Economic Growth in Rural Texas

August 2, 2025
Fox Corporation Acquires One-Third Interest in Penske Entertainment – INDYCAR.com

Fox Corporation Makes Bold Move with Major Investment in Penske Entertainment, Powering INDYCAR’s Future

August 2, 2025
Minnesotans face health impacts as wildfire smoke lingers – kare11.com

Minnesotans face health impacts as wildfire smoke lingers – kare11.com

August 2, 2025
Trump announces sweeping new levies for scores of countries – as it happened – The Guardian

Trump announces sweeping new levies for scores of countries – as it happened – The Guardian

August 2, 2025
Livonia police use grappler technology to stop drunk driver – ClickOnDetroit | WDIV Local 4

Livonia Police Deploy Grappler Technology to Safely Stop Drunk Driver

August 2, 2025

Categories

Archives

August 2025
MTWTFSS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Jul    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (751)
  • Economy (776)
  • Entertainment (21,653)
  • General (16,252)
  • Health (9,813)
  • Lifestyle (784)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (776)
  • Politics (785)
  • Science (15,989)
  • Sports (21,271)
  • Technology (15,753)
  • World (758)

Recent News

Endemism shapes viral ecology and evolution in globally distributed hydrothermal vent ecosystems – Nature

Endemism shapes viral ecology and evolution in globally distributed hydrothermal vent ecosystems – Nature

August 2, 2025
Scientists Finally Reveal the Hidden Trigger Behind Lightning Strikes

Scientists Finally Reveal the Hidden Trigger Behind Lightning Strikes

August 2, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version