The most terrible big holes in the ground. Soil failures: why cities fail
Hollows in the ground are formed by various reasons, but what they have in common is that giant pits are very difficult to eliminate, and the damage caused by them costs significant sums. Today we bring to your attention a selection of photographs of giant sinkholes taken in different parts of the world.
1. A gigantic sinkhole, which resulted in several houses being buried underground, in Guatemala City, photograph taken on February 23, 2007. At least three people are missing, officials say.
2. Cars lie in a sinkhole created when part of a highway collapsed into an underground cave in the southern Italian city of Gallipoli, photographed March 30, 2007. Fortunately, no one was injured as a result of the overnight incident, local police said.
3. People look at the collapsed part of the Shunwai Highway in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China, photo taken April 25, 2007. No one was injured as a result of the incident.
4. View of the crater caused by a meteorite in the southern Peruvian city of Carangas, near the border with Bolivia, photograph taken September 16, 2007. According to local media, farmers living near the site of the meteorite's impact complained headache and nausea that prompted officials to send medical teams to the area. Photo taken September 16, 2007.
5. Crew members and television reporters stand near a hole in Paseo Nuevo in San Sebastian, photo taken March 12, 2008. The hole in the ground was caused by a storm that also sank numerous boats and caused significant damage in the Bay of Biscay area.
6. A sinkhole caused by recent rains in Guatemala, photograph taken May 30, 2010. Tropical Storm Agatha brought heavy rains to Central America, killing at least 17 people in the region and threatening landslides in three areas. At least one three-story home was buried in the sinkhole, which was caused by heavy rains that blanketed the region as a result of Tropical Storm Agatha.
7. A giant sinkhole caused by rainfall from Tropical Storm Agatha in Guatemala, photographed May 31, 2010. More than 94,000 people were evacuated, as a result of the squall and downpour, many houses were buried under a layer of mud and silt, and in addition, a highway bridge near Guatemala City was completely destroyed and sinkholes appeared on the roads in the capital.
8. A giant sinkhole caused by heavy rains from Tropical Storm Agatha, in Guatemala City, photographed June 1, 2010. Damaged roads and highway bridges further complicated rescue efforts in the region after the squall and storm killed at least 175 people.
9. Locals look at the giant sinkhole next to the building primary school Qingquan in Dachegnqiao Ningxiang City, Hunan Province, photograph taken June 15, 2010. The giant hole, 150 meters (492 feet) wide and 50 meters (164 feet) deep, has been growing in size since it appeared in January. Due to the appearance of this failure, more than 20 houses were destroyed. The cause of the hole remains unclear, local media reported.
10. General form sinkholes in the city center on June 16, 2010, after flooding in the town of Les Arcs-sur-Argens, in southeastern France, a day after unusually heavy rains hit the region and caused water levels in the Le Real River to soar. As a result of the flooding caused by heavy rains, 19 people were killed and 7 people are considered dead. The city is located on the Mediterranean coast of France. More than 350 mm (14 inches) of rain fell here within a few hours.
11. Potholes in the ground caused by a US bomb in the village of Khosrow Sofla in the Arghandab Valley, north of Kandahar, photo taken April 11, 2011. After it was discovered that the village was being used as a Taliban base for the production of improvised explosive materials, the civilian population was evacuated and US warplanes destroyed most of the buildings in the village of Khosrow Sofla on October 6, 2010.
12. . A crater that the Libyan government says was caused by coalition airstrikes in Bab al-Aziziya Square in Tripoli, photographed May 12, 2011. Libyan officials who showed reporters the crater said three people were killed and 25 wounded.
13. A truck crashes into a sinkhole after part of a bridge structure collapses into a river in Changchun City, Jilin Province, photo taken May 29, 2011. Two passengers in the truck were injured.
14. Workers carry out renovation work near a sinkhole that occurred after part of a bridge structure collapsed in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, photograph taken July 15, 2011. The sinkhole is 20 meters long and one meter wide, blocking the Qiantang Bridge in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou and injuring at least one driver. The truck, which was carrying a load of steel plates, fell from the bridge, but its driver managed to jump out, Xinhua news agency reported.
15. A sinkhole appears on the road after flooding in the city of Hyderabad, the capital of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, photo taken on August 25, 2000. Helicopters evacuated people from flooded areas in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, leaving a total of 93 dead.
16. Rescuers remove a bus with the help of a crane from a sinkhole on the street of Lisbon, photo taken November 25, 2003. The bus was parked on a street in Lisbon when the ground began to cave in. There were no reports of casualties.
17. A failure on the Shouyang segment of the expressway, which links the capitals of Hebei and Shanxi provinces in northern China, caused congestion, photo taken March 28, 2006. The 100-meter crater, 10 meters wide and 10 meters deep, appeared on the Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan Highway. No one was hurt, and the cause of the failure was not determined.
18. Palestinians look at a destroyed tunnel after an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza-Egypt border in the southern Gaza Strip, photo taken December 31, 2008.
19. Bird's eye view of the ruins of a residential building and a destroyed road in the village of Nachterstedt, photograph taken on July 18, 2009. Three residents are missing in eastern German village Nachterstedt after their lakeside home and another building suddenly collapsed into the water. A 350-meter section of the shore collapsed into the lake, 170 kilometers southwest of Berlin.
20. Police officers inspect a collapsed section of highway in Hefei, Anhui province, photo taken August 8, 2009. A taxi and several motorcycles fell into the sinkhole, local media reported.
21. Jordanian Bedouins with their livestock next to a sinkhole that appeared on the southern shore of the Dead Sea on January 12, 2010, causing numerous problems for residents. The Dead Sea is slowly but surely becoming shallow, and could disappear completely within 50 years if no action is taken. Water levels are falling by one meter (three feet) per year. According to environmentalists, the sinkholes appear precisely as a result of a decrease in water levels.
A U.S. Army 1st Platoon soldier walks past a crater left by an improvised explosive device in the village of Khaleqdad Khan in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, May 26, 2012.
24. Workers carry out repair work in an area on the road in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, photo taken May 27, 2012. The cause of the collapse, about 6 meters (20 feet) deep, 15 meters (49 feet) long and 10 meters (33 feet) wide, is under investigation. According to data provided by local media mass media, no casualties.
27. A rescue team works near a collapsed section of Highway 549 near Lake Landvetter outside Gothenburg, photographed December 11, 2006. Thunderstorms occurred in western Sweden.
28. Sinkhole on Highway 15 in San Diego that occurred on February 24. It was formed as a result of an accident drainage pipes that burst due to heavy rains. The resulting sinkhole is about eight hundred feet long, forty feet wide and seventy feet deep.
29. Local residents pass by a car that fell into a hole in the road. The sinkhole was caused by heavy rains in the northeastern Spanish city of Castelldefels, photograph taken on October 9, 2002. Heavy rains hit the region, causing flooding, damage and transport problems, but no one was injured.
30. Rescuers try to pull out a car that fell into a flooded hole on Borges de Medeiros Avenue in Rio de Janeiro, photo taken April 30, 2004. The driver, who did not want to identify himself, left open door on the passenger side, and could only watch as the car plunged into the flooded hole. The failure was formed as a result of a rupture water pipes. The width of the hole was two and a half meters. Rio's famous Corcovado Mountain is visible in the background in this photo.
31. A sinkhole formed after an earthquake in India.
32. Rescuers to workers utilities Los views a sinkhole caused by heavy rains on Tujunga Avenue in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles, photographed February 19, 2005.
It so happens that from time to time our planet fails. If you're lucky, holes of various sizes and degrees of bottomlessness are formed in deserted seas, jungles, taiga and tundra, but it also happens that entire cities are in danger of going underground. In some cases, nature itself is responsible for such pranks, simply presenting a person with a fait accompli, but increasingly, the blame for such incidents remains with people. Onliner.by has selected the top most beautiful and terrible, large and deep holes, places where the center of the Earth becomes a little closer.
1. Dongguan, China.
It is in China that sinkholes occur especially often. Natural disasters in this huge country are combined with extremely intensive construction, which is often carried out in flagrant violation of all established norms and rules. Last summer the construction new station The underground railway in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan ended with almost an entire street going underground.
The funnel formed in several stages. First into the first hole with an area of 80 square meters a minibus fell, and a day later, into a hole that turned out to be four times larger, the minibus was followed by the structures of an almost completed metro station and part of a city street. In this case, one person died, several neighboring buildings were seriously damaged, and the process of formation of the failure was caught on video.
2. Meridian, Mississippi, USA.
Diners who wanted to dine at the IHOP fast-food pancake house located in the rural town of Meridian in the heart of Mississippi were definitely not prepared for the surprise that nature had in store for them. On November 9, 2015, at 7:15 p.m., a giant trench 180 meters long and 15 meters wide suddenly appeared in a restaurant parking lot. A dozen cars of the establishment's clients immediately fell into it.
Most likely, the cause of the incident was the prolonged rains, which had been falling in Meridian for two weeks by that time. Local media reported that a storm sewer ran directly under the parking lot, apparently unable to withstand the pressure of the incoming water. According to another version, the failure could have occurred due to the construction work. The IHOP restaurant had only been open for a week at the time of the emergency, and construction of a hotel continued nearby. Fortunately, the vehicles were the only ones damaged during this incident.
3. Batagai, Yakutia, Russia.
Scientists first discovered the Batagai fault in the mid-1960s. At that time it was a relatively small ravine, but over the past five decades it has grown to cyclopean dimensions of a kilometer long, 800 meters wide and up to 100 meters deep. The hole, reminiscent of an overgrown tadpole, is located in a sparsely populated area, near the village of Batagai, where the forces of prisoners in camps even before the Great Patriotic War Tin mining began. The emergence of this curious object is connected with this circumstance.
For the needs of the created mine, forests were cut down in the vicinity of Batagai. Subsequently, active permafrost melting occurred in this area, as a result of which upper layer soil and fell into the resulting voids. From the point of view of the ecology of the region, the ongoing process is negative in nature, but so far the rare tourists here and especially scientists who have received a convenient testing ground for studying permafrost are happy with what happened. According to the Yakut tradition, the remains of a mammoth and ancient plants, whose age reaches 200 thousand years, have already been discovered here.
4. Guatemala, Guatemala.
On February 23, 2007, in the capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City, nothing foreshadowed trouble, until an almost perfectly round hole with sheer walls hundreds of meters deep appeared right in the middle of a densely populated residential area. In this case, there were no casualties: as a result of this tragedy, five people died at once. The worst thing is that these victims were not the last.
Just three years later, in May 2010, another similar failure (20 meters wide, 90 meters deep) appeared in Guatemala, completely destroying a three-story factory building. As a result of this incident, 15 people have already died. Both tragedies were caused by a combination of factors: leaking sewers and heavy rains that caused flooding simply eroded the volcanic and limestone rocks on which the city stands.
5. Ein Gedi, Israel.
If in Guatemala the matter was limited to only two failures, then in the Israeli oasis of Ein Gedi, located on the coast of the Dead Sea, they literally number in the thousands. The reason for their formation was the constant, ongoing decline in the level of the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet. At the same time, due to the ever-increasing withdrawal of water from the Jordan River that feeds it, the water level in the sea is falling at a rate of about a meter per year. The rock salted by the sea begins to be actively eroded by fresh water. groundwater, which, in turn, leads to the formation of numerous and extensive voids, the obligatory precursors of failures. It is extremely difficult to predict their appearance, which seriously threatens the tourism potential of the region.
6. Tianken Xiaozhai, China.
This is the deepest natural sinkhole on Earth. An underground river flowing in the Difeng Cave in the Chinese municipality of Chongqing has, over time, eroded the limestones that form the local mountains. The result was logical: the resulting karst sinkhole is 662 meters deep and more than half a kilometer wide.
Speleologists discovered it relatively recently, in 1994, after which the hole received the nickname “Sky Pit.” In addition to tourists, the pit was favored by numerous plants and animals, including the rare clouded leopard.
7. Solikamsk and Berezniki, Russia.
Over thirty years, starting in 1986, six large sinkholes appeared on the territory and in the immediate vicinity of the Ural cities of Solikamsk and Berezniki. Since the 1930s, active mining of potassium salts has been carried out here, as a result of which settlements found themselves surrounded by large mine workings. Moreover, the cities that grew over time eventually occupied the territory above them, and they were separated from the vast underground voids only by a relatively thin, 250-350-meter jumper.
The salt rock underground continues to be dissolved by groundwater. This process deforms the inter-mine bridges left in the workings, which ultimately leads to destabilization of their structure, flooding of mines, the formation of cracks, and man-made earthquakes. The sinkholes in Berezniki and Solikamsk continue to increase, which has already led to the resettlement of entire urban areas on the surface and the closure of a number of enterprises.
8. Sarisarinyama, Venezuela.
Tepuis are unique mesas in Venezuela, the remains of an ancient plateau isolated from the rest of the world at their base. On their flat tops there is a special world with endemic species of plants and animals that have evolved along their own path for thousands of years. In addition to this circumstance, tepuis are also interesting for their numerous karst sinkholes, the largest of which are located on Mount Sarisarinyama in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar.
They were formed by the collapse of the arches of the underground river tunnels that literally pierce the mountain. The largest of the four failures on Sarisarinyam are Sima Humboldt and Sima Martel, located 700 meters from each other, going 300-350 meters deep into the tepui. At their bottom there is life of its own, including even large trees, and this life was isolated from both the top of the plateau and Big Earth- a unique microcosm within a microcosm, a thing in itself, discovered only in the 1960s.
Incredible facts
Imagine that you are calmly walking down the street, when suddenly the ground begins to shake and a huge hole suddenly appears under you. This is not a horror movie script, but a phenomenon called sinkhole, which can reach incredible sizes and absorb everything that appears on the surface.
The other day In Florida, USA, a 37-year-old man was swallowed by a huge hole., which opened right in his bedroom while he was sleeping.
Sinkhole approximately 6 meters wide and more than 15 meters deep led to the collapse of the concrete floor in the house.
Five other people in the house heard the loud noise and the man's screams, but they were not injured. The victim, Jeff Bush, most likely did not survive after falling underground.
Sinkhole
The sinkhole that suddenly opened up in Florida is a phenomenon that is more common than we think. What causes them and how dangerous are they?
Most sinkholes formed when acidic rainwater gradually dissolves limestone and other soil rocks, leaving a huge void, which leads to the collapse of what is on the surface, be it open field, road or house.
Collapse may occur suddenly, or it may simply lead to gradual subsidence of the soil or the formation of small reservoirs and salt marshes.
Sinkhole holes are found everywhere, especially in the USA, China, Mexico and Papua New Guinea.
The biggest holes in the ground
Here are some photos of the huge holes that have swallowed up streets, sidewalks and buildings around the world.
1. Sarissarinama Plateau, Venezuela
The Sarisariñama Plateau is located in the Jaua-Sarisarinama Park in Venezuela and is one of the mysterious and beautiful natural wonders of the world. There are several dips on the plateau with a diameter of up to 350 meters and a depth of 350 meters.
Each hole has developed its own ecosystem with unique species of animals and plants.
2. Failure in Berezniki, Russia
The Berezniki sinkhole was formed in 1986 as a result of a mine accident, and every year the situation only got worse. In 2007, the dimensions of the failure at the first mine were 80 by 20 meters, and depth up to 200 meters. By the end of August 2012, the fourth funnel had grown to the size 103 by 100 meters.
3. Hole in Guatemala
In February 2007, a sinkhole in Guatemala 100 meters deep swallowed up more than a dozen houses. More than 100 people were evacuated and three people died. The hole was the result of corrosion sewer system deep below the surface. The failure was accompanied by loud sounds, and an unbearable smell emanated from the hole.
In 2010, another hole opened in Guatemala 18 meters wide and 60 meters deep.
4. Bimmah, Oman
Bimmah Sinkhole is a limestone crater that is now a popular tourist attraction in Oman.
Other holes in the ground
5. In May 1981, a giant hole appeared during the day in Winter Park in Florida, USA. The city has turned this area into an urban lake.
6. In 1995, a sinkhole 18 meters deep, measuring 60 by 45 meters, swallowed up two houses in San Francisco.
7. In the city of Dysetta, Texas in the USA, a relatively small 6-meter sinkhole expanded to 270 meters per day.
8. In November 2003, rescuers had to rescue a bus in Lisbon, Portugal, after it fell into a hole. 9 meters deep, which was presumably caused by heavy rains.
9. In March 2007, the road collapsed into underground network caves in the southern Italian city of Gallipoli.
10. In September 2008, the road collapsed, creating a sinkhole 5 meters deep and 10 meters wide in Guangzhou Province, China.
11. In May 2012, a hole appeared on the road in Shaanxi Province, China. 15 meters long, 10 meters wide and 6 meters deep.
12. Another road in this province collapsed in December 2012, leaving a hole 6 meters deep and 10 meters wide.
Nature often presents surprises that enchant and frighten at the same time, such as a thunderstorm or storm. We will talk about another similar phenomenon - huge karst sinkholes that sometimes appear out of the blue in a matter of minutes.
Sky Pit is a sinkhole in China, located in the Chongqing region. This is a double sinkhole that measures 662 meters deep, 626 meters long and 537 meters wide; its upper “bowl” goes 320 meters deep, and the lower one another 342. Such a huge depression, of course, did not appear overnight, but was formed gradually over 128 thousand years. It is so big that it is often visited by extreme sports enthusiasts who want to get an adrenaline rush by jumping down from a great height with a parachute or on a rope.
Funnel in the city of Berezniki, Russia
This failure, about two hundred meters deep, is 80 meters long and 40 meters wide. It appeared in 1986 as a result of an accident, due to which a potash mine in the area was flooded and the soil slid. As the depression continues to grow, experts believe it could destroy railway, which is connected to a potash mine. Now ways are being sought to eliminate this problem, since about 10 percent of the world's potassium production is mined in Berezniki.
Dead Sea Sinkholes, Israel
In the vicinity of the city of Ein Gedi, located on the shores of the Dead Sea, there are several thousand karst depressions. At last count, there are already approximately three thousand open depressions along the coast, plus experts believe that there are approximately the same number of sinkholes that have not yet been discovered. All of them were formed due to chronic water shortages in an area where the population is rapidly growing. There are also a lot of tourists here, which wastes even more water and creates more sinkholes. Which in turn attract even more tourists. In addition, the situation is aggravated by the presence of several chemical plants in the area.
The Qattara Depression in Egypt is the largest of its kind. This waterless depression extends 80 kilometers in length and 120 in width. The failure formed naturally due to winds that scattered the sands and formed a depression. The depression is so huge that Egyptian authorities are looking for ways to use it to generate electricity. Once they design a channel to carry water from Mediterranean Sea, which will flow into a giant well, shield gates will be installed that will contribute to the generation of electricity.
Devil's Hollow is located in Edward County, Texas. Its dimensions are 12 by 18 meters, and its depth is 122 meters. The well is made entirely of limestone and is home to the Mexican tailed bat. Observers claim that more than three million bats live in this place.
Depression in Guatemala City, Guatemala
The capital of Guatemala actually has not one, but two giant “wells”. The first was formed in 2007 due to a collapsed sewer underneath a city street, killing two people and leading to the evacuation of thousands of residents. It is an almost perfect circle and has solid depth. Three years later, another failure, 60 meters deep and 18 meters wide, “ate” a three-story building in the city. Although the depression developed gradually, continuous rain accelerated the process. Fortunately, this time no one died.
The Bimma Well was formed naturally in the city of Dibab in Oman and filled with groundwater. The water in this well is blue and clean, due to which the locals and authorities decided to develop it and turn it into a wonderful swimming spot that attracts both local and foreign tourists.
In the mountains of Venezuela, called the Tepuis, there are four incredible wells. Two of the four, namely Sima Humboldt and Sima Martel, are simply huge - 352 meters wide and 314 meters deep. These two wells isolated the forest ecosystems covering the bottom. Another depression is called the “Abyss of Rain” and is more than a kilometer long. It is used as a platform for scientific research scientists who study the process of erosion in tepuis.
The Bahamas is considered a beach paradise due to its wonderful waters complemented by generous sunlight and a lot of sand. And the Mecca area is also popular among scuba divers, because the famous Blue Hole is located there. It extends to a depth of 203 meters, which is why it attracts diving enthusiasts. It was here that a man named William Trumbridge set a record for free diving to a depth of 92 meters. Dean's Hole is also probably one of the most picturesque depressions on Earth.
The Great Blue Hole is an underwater well off the coast of Belize. The bowl-shaped hole is 300 meters in diameter and 124 meters deep. It is located in the center of the Belize Barrier Reef. The Blue Hole has an unusual feature - strange ancient stalactites covering the surface of the Barrier Reef, which are already on the UN list of study and conservation.