Imagine that you are calmly walking down the street, when suddenly the earth begins to shake and a huge hole suddenly forms under you. This is not a horror movie script, but a phenomenon called sinkhole, which can reach incredible sizes and absorb everything that is 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 slept.
sinkhole about 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 hurt. Affected Jeff Bush (Jeff Bush), most likely did not survive after he fell into the ground.
sinkhole
A sinkhole that has 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 form when acid rain water gradually dissolves limestone and other soils, leaving a huge void that leads to collapse of what is on the surface, whether it be an open field, a road or a house.
Collapse can occur suddenly, or it can simply lead to gradual subsidence of the soil or the formation of small reservoirs and salt marshes.
Sinkholes are found everywhere, especially in the USA, China, Mexico and Papua New Guinea.
The biggest holes in the earth
Here are some photos of huge holes swallowing up streets, sidewalks and buildings around the world.
1. Sarisarinam 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 up to 350 meters in diameter and 350 meters deep.
Each hole has developed its own ecosystem with unique species of animals and plants.
2. Failure in Berezniki, Russia
The failure in Berezniki was formed in 1986 as a result of an accident at the mine, and every year the situation only worsened. In 2007, the size of the dip at the first mine was 80 by 20 meters, and depth up to 200 meters. By the end of August 2012, the fourth funnel had grown to 103 by 100 meters.
3. Hole in Guatemala
In February 2007, in Guatemala, a sinkhole 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 of the sewer system deep below the surface. The failure was accompanied by loud sounds, and an unbearable smell emanated from the hole.
Another hole formed in Guatemala in 2010 18 meters wide and 60 meters deep.
4. Bimmah, Oman
The 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 formed 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 Dycett, Texas in the USA, a relatively small 6-meter sinkhole has expanded to 270 meters per day.
8. In November 2003, rescuers had to pull out a bus in Lisbon, Portugal, after it fell into a hole. 9 meters deep that was supposedly caused by heavy rains.
9. In March 2007, a road collapsed into an underground network of caves in the southern Italian city of Gallipoli.
10. In September 2008, the road collapsed, forming a failure 5 meters deep and 10 meters wide in Guangzhou Province, China.
11. In May 2012, a hole formed on the road in Shaanxi Province, China. 15 meters long, 10 meters wide and 6 meters deep.
12. Another road in this province failed in December 2012, resulting in a hole 6 meters deep and 10 meters wide.
Since we already had it today, let's continue it a little. What do you think, is it real or painted in the photo? Many of my friends already know the answer to this question, but I just came across this photo again and once again decided to put all the dots over the "i" and at the same time make a note about it in my blog.
We jump under the cut and remove all questions ...
Clickable 3880 px
Many on the Internet doubted that this was true. They tried to appeal to the strongly even edges of this hole, to the suspiciously regular circle, to the insufficiently regular transition of the earth into the darkness of the depths, and so on. But everything in the photos is all in reality.
A hole of almost perfect round shape with a diameter of about 20 meters and 30 meters deep. It was formed in July 2010 in one of the districts of the city of Guatemala.
In the place where you see a huge funnel, the bottom of which is not visible even from a helicopter, once there was a three-story building of a garment factory.
The mysterious crater was cordoned off by police, geologists worked on the spot. Experts definitely cannot understand the cause of the funnel. It is worth noting that a little more than three years ago, literally two kilometers from this place, an almost similar “black hole” had already formed in the earth. However, Tropical Storm Agatha could be one of the reasons. Such floods and landslides have not been seen in this region for the past 60 years. The elements destroyed roads and bridges, rivers overflowed their banks, many areas were cut off from the outside world.
“I can tell you what was not the cause: it is not the fault of geology and it is not caused by an earthquake. That's all we know at the moment, and we will be forced to go down inside, ”said David Monterroso, a geophysical engineer from the National Emergency Management Agency.
Meanwhile, scientists agree that the round shape of the funnel suggests the presence of a karst cavity under it. While geologists are puzzling over the causes of the "crater", many local residents whose houses are located in the immediate vicinity of the "black hole" are already trying to change their homes.
It is not clear why there are no frames on the Internet studying this funnel, well, it would not be interesting for anyone to go down there with a camera. Or at least lower a camera with a searchlight on a cable and shoot what is there at depth.
Here is the same hurricane that could have caused this funnel to appear.
For seven days, residents of Guatemala and neighboring Honduras and El Salvador had to deal with a volcanic eruption that spewing tons of ash, a powerful tropical storm, floods and landslides, and a terrifying "black" hole that swallowed up a small factory and an intersection in Guatemala City. Volcano Pacaya began spewing lava and rock on Thursday, May 27, blanketing Guatemala in ash that forced the airport to close. One TV reporter, who was at that moment not far from the volcano, died. Two days later, while the Guatemalans were clearing the ashes, Tropical Hurricane Agata hit the region, bringing floods and mudslides that washed away bridges, filled villages with mud and caused a giant hole to form in the center of Guatemala's capital.
A woman stands in mud after a landslide caused by Hurricane Agata in the Amatitlán El Pedregal area on May 31. On Monday, stunned victims of Hurricane Agatha and rescuers began to find bodies in the mud. In total, according to the latest data, 179 people died in Central America. (REUTERS/Daniel LeClair)
Lava flows from the Pacaya volcano, near the capital of Guatemala, on May 28. Pacaya erupted on Thursday, May 27, killing journalist Anibal Archila, who was reporting for the local TV channel Noti7. (REUTERS/Daniel LeClair)
Cameraman Byron Sesaida gives his side of the story after he was rescued from the Pacaya volcano on May 27. Byron worked with journalist Anibal Archila, who died while filming a program about a volcanic eruption for the TV channel Noti7. (REUTERS/Daniel LeClair)
A man displays volcanic ash removed from his car on May 27 in Villa Nueva, following the powerful eruption of the Pacaya volcano, 50 kilometers south of Guatemala. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Villagers left their homes fearing more eruptions from the Pacaya volcano in Las Calderas, Guatemala. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Two men watch a huge wave on May 29 in the port of San José, 110 km south of Quetemala. The first tropical hurricane of the season, named Agatha, hit the country, bringing heavy downpours, landslides and flooding. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
People climb a bridge after part of it was washed away by Hurricane Agatha in Barberene on May 30. (REUTERS/Daniel LeClair)
An Amatitlán resident at an Asus office dumps the mud he removed from his home after the Mico River burst its banks on June 1. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
A woman crosses a muddy road after the Mico River overflowed its banks in Amatitlán on June 11. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
People inspect a car destroyed by a landslide in the Palin district, Escuintla department, Guatemala. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Maria del Carmen de Ramirez watched as the funnel was born. She was at home when the fatal downpour began - by the way, meteorologists say that more than 30 centimeters of rain fell in 30 hours, and barely managed to run out of her own home. “I saw through the window how the clothing factory next door disappeared,” she says. “She just melted.” Maria del Carmen claims it's a miracle that none of the factory workers were hurt: working hours ended exactly one hour before the storm. And the watchman, who is usually on duty at night, took the day off on that day to visit his relatives. “In the afternoon, hundreds of students came to the factory to get their uniforms,” she says. “If the rain had started a few hours earlier, it would have turned into a big tragedy.”
Residents of the surrounding houses are still afraid to come back. Those who have not left their dwellings live in constant fear that their house may in an instant be at the bottom of the pit. “At night I wake up every ten minutes,” says one of the locals. “I am frightened by every rustle - it seems to me that it is rain drumming on the roof.”
Experts, however, could not determine the exact cause of the hole. Geologists say that the porous structure of limestone - the main component of the soil in Ciudad Nueva - year after year received rainwater, gradually increasing the holes. And the downpour worked as a catalyst. The management of a local cement plant suggested mixing the volcanic ash from the Pacaya volcano, which had erupted four days earlier, with cement and filling the funnel with the resulting mass. According to experts, it will take 12 to 18 months to fill the well.
It should be noted that something similar has already happened in Guatemala. In February 2007, a similar failure occurred in the same city, but 100 meters deep. The distance between the two failures is several kilometers. One can only imagine how the residents living in this area of Guatemala feel.
By the way, that hole...
By the way, the Guatemalan funnel is far from the only one in the world. More than twenty years ago, a similar hole suddenly appeared in the Florida State Winter Park - its depth exceeded 98 meters. In 1994, a huge well with smooth edges appeared in Mulbury, the same state of Florida, at the site of industrial waste dumping. In April of this year, one after another, ten sinkholes appeared in the Chinese city of Yongbing, Sichuan province. The depth of the largest hole was 80 meters
Here and photoshopers found a place for creativity!
Well, in general, if you are embarrassed by an exactly round hole, then here are more like you, albeit not such huge examples.
A beautiful funnel on a highway near the capital of Venezuela - Caracas, on December 1, 2010.
In the small town of Schmalkalden, in the German state of Thuringia, a huge crater suddenly formed. Local residents woke up in the middle of the night from the roar of car sirens. It turned out that a car fell into a hole 40 meters wide and 25 meters deep, and only by a lucky chance, no one was hurt.
The police and rescue services immediately arrived at the scene. who cordoned off a giant funnel. Residents of nearby houses were urgently evacuated.
“The earth literally opened up under my feet at about three in the morning. If this happened during the day, it would hardly have been possible to avoid casualties. We have already announced that until the causes of the natural disaster are fully clarified, people will have to temporarily leave the city. The local authorities are ready to provide them with shelter,” the police said. Bild writes about it.
A helicopter was attracted to survey the area, which, with the help of detailed surveys, will determine the actual size of the crater. According to preliminary data, the collapse of the soil could have occurred due to the fact that once intensive salt mining was carried out here. Probably, groundwater gave impetus to the formation of a dangerous landslide.
In the city of Berezniki in 2007, a giant crater was formed on the territory of one of the enterprises: 15 meters deep and with an area of two and a half thousand square meters. The collapse of the soil occurred in the industrial zone, where salt mines are located underground. In dangerous proximity - a salt factory and a local thermal power plant. Just a kilometer - residential buildings.
November 25, 2003 in the center of Lisbon (Portugal), a parked bus suddenly began to go underground. The reason for everything was a deep hole formed on the roadway.
Another hole in the road in the city of Changchun in Jilin province, May 29, 2011. A truck went underground.
This hole in the Earth was formed in June 2010 in Hunan province, its dimensions are: diameter - 150 meters, depth - 50 meters. The reasons for its appearance are unclear.
On September 7, 2008, a large dip in the road (15 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep) formed in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province.
For the second day, employees of the geological service have been struggling with the cause of the mysterious appearance in the capital of Guatemala, which suffered from tropical storm Agatha, an impressive funnel that swallowed up the entire building of a garment factory.
A hole of almost perfect round shape with a diameter of about 20 meters and 30 meters deep. It was formed in one of the districts of the city of Guatemala on Saturday evening. In the place where a huge funnel now flaunts, the bottom of which is not visible even from a helicopter, once there was a three-story building of a garment factory.
However, data on the victims differ. Local authorities report that no one was injured as a result of the incident. However, information about one or two missing people, as well as the death of a private security officer, repeatedly appeared in a number of media outlets. About it writes RIA Novosti.
Now the mysterious crater is cordoned off by police, geologists are working on the spot. For the second day now, specialists have not been able to understand the cause of the funnel. It is worth noting that a little more than three years ago, literally two kilometers from this place, an almost similar “black hole” had already formed in the earth.
However, Tropical Storm Agatha could be one of the reasons. Such floods and landslides have not been seen in this region for the past 60 years. The elements destroyed roads and bridges, rivers overflowed their banks, many areas were cut off from the outside world. More than 70 thousand people were left homeless. Dozens of people went missing. The element has already claimed the lives of 179 people, Vesti-Moscow reports.
“I can tell you what was not the cause: it is not the fault of geology and it is not caused by an earthquake. That's all we know at the moment, and we will be forced to go down inside," said David Monterroso, a geophysicist from the National Emergency Management Agency.
Meanwhile, scientists agree that the round shape of the funnel suggests the presence of a karst cavity under it. While geologists are puzzling over the causes of the “crater”, many local residents whose houses are located in the immediate vicinity of the “black hole” have already chosen to rent other housing.
Among all the people who prefer to spend their free time traveling, there is a small part that strives to get to the most incredible places on the globe in order to see with their own eyes the most incredible and Amazing places or natural phenomena. It is to such places that certain failures of the earth's crust can be attributed ( earth's holes”), which are sometimes formed either under the influence of the forces of nature or as a result of human activity.
It is to this phenomenon in Central America that the giant karst dip l, which was formed in 2010 almost in the center of the capital of Guatemala after heavy rains caused by a tropical storm, which received a rather romantic name - Storm Agatha.
Failure in Guatemala It has such an impressive size that for some time, both local residents and special services were afraid to approach it in order to determine not only its real size, but also the very reason for its occurrence. Karst sinkhole in Guatemala City, had a diameter of more than 19 meters in diameter and a depth of up to 30 meters. During its formation, a garment factory and several adjacent buildings fell into it. Luckily, only a few people were hurt.
Even more impressive is the man-made formation, on the surface of the Earth, which is called the Mir kimberlite pipe, which is located in Yakutia, there largest diamond mining in the world. Its diameter today is more than 1200 meters with a development depth of just over half a kilometer. In this case we are talking about a huge quarry where diamonds were mined industrially for almost half a century. In this case, it is rather difficult to imagine the amount of material removed from the ground, but less remarkable is the fact that in 2004 the last ton of ore containing diamonds was mined from the Mir kimberlite pipe.
And if we continue the theme of diamond mining a little, then the abandoned career, located near the city of Kimberley, in the Republic of South Africa. With a diameter of 460 meters and a depth of up to 215 meters, until 1914, 22 million soil was extracted from it and 2,722 kilograms of diamonds were mined, including such famous stones as De Beers, which weighs 428.5 carats, Porter Rhodes - 150 carats and Tiffany weighing 128.5 carats.
