9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

Nature never stops to amaze us with its magnificent phenomenon just like these inexplicable holes in the ground. I bet that these holes make an excellent tourist attraction. Check out these unreal photographs and location descriptions of 9 of world’s most famous pits and sinkholes. (Courtesy of National Geographic)

1. Lisbon, Portugal, Sinkhole

world famous pits 09 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

A parked bus was the unfortunate “meal” of a sinkhole that opened up in the streets of Lisbon, Portugal, in 2003.

“Anything that increases the flow of water into subsurface soil can speed up the formation of sinkholes’” ,Missouri State’s Gouzie said. In many cities, utility infrastructure such as sewer lines and fiber optic cables are buried in troughs filled with loose material, which can wash away over time. In some cases, a stretch of road can essentially become a concrete bridge over mostly empty space.

“It’s eventually not enough to hold the weight of the next truck over it,” Gouzie said.

2. Guatemala Sinkhole

world famous pits 01 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

world famous pits 02 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

Heavy rains from tropical storm Agatha likely triggered the collapse of a huge sinkhole in Guatemala on Sunday, seen above a few days afterward.

In the strictly geologic use of the word, a sinkhole happens when water erodes solid bedrock, carving an underground cavity that can then collapse. Many parts of the United States are at risk for that type of event.

The Guatemala sinkhole fits into a broader use of the term, which refers to any sudden slump of the ground’s surface. Instead of solid bedrock, much of Guatemala City rests atop a layer of loose, gravelly volcanic pumice that is hundreds of feet thick. And at least one geologist says leaking pipes—not nature—created the recent sinkhole.

Overall, the risk for repeat sinkholes in Guatemala City is high—but highly unpredictable.

3. Winter Park, Florida, Sinkhole

world famous pits 03 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

he sinkhole in Winter Park, Florida (map), opened up in 1981 underneath the city’s public swimming pool, Missouri State’s Gouzie said.

“I’ve never seen a final report as to whether the pool was leaking,” he said, adding that water can flow into the underlying soil through tiny cracks in the bottom of a pool. Even watering plants at the pool’s perimeter could have sent enough runoff through Florida’s sandy soil to erode the solid limestone underneath.

Gouzie said the U.S. Geological Survey has mapped the types of bedrock that exist across the country. But studies of the underground cracks and fissures—and the way water travels through them—are still needed to predict where sinkholes could occur.

4. Mulberry, Florida, Sinkhole

world famous pits 04 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

This 185-foot-deep (56-meter-deep) sinkhole appeared in 1994 in Mulberry, Florida (map), in a pile of waste material dumped by mining company IMC-Agrico. The company was mining rock to extract phosphate, a main ingredient in fertilizers and a chemical used to produce phosphoric acid, added to enhance the taste of soda and various food items.

After phosphate was extracted from the rocks, the gypsum-based waste product was dumped as a slurry. As layer after layer of the stuff dried, it formed cracks, like those that appear in dried mud. Water later made its way through the cracks and carried away subsurface material, setting the stage for a sinkhole.

5. Blue Hole, Belize

world famous pits 05 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

Sinkholes can happen anywhere water can erode a vertical channel that connects to a horizontal drain, a situation that allows a column of solid material to wash away, Missouri State’s Gouzie explained.

If the sinkhole is near the sea—or in the sea, as with the famous Blue Hole in Lighthouse Reef off the coast of Belize—seawater can quickly seep in after a collapse, forming a deep pool.

6. Picher, Oklahoma, Sinkhole

world famous pits 06 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

Years of mining for zinc and lead has left Picher, Oklahoma, near the border with Kansas, literally full of holes—including this sinkhole seen in 2008. Some mines were dug too close to the surface, and the roofs were unable to support the weight of earth on top, leading to collapses.

“It has happened in Missouri and in western Pennsylvania from coal mining,” Missouri State’s Gouzie said. “We’ve gotten better with buidlng mines so the roofs can support the weight over top of them.”

7. Iceland Sinkhole

world famous pits 07 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

Adventure kayaker Mick Coyne lowers himself down the wall of a sinkhole toward the headwaters of the Jokulsa, Iceland’s second longest river. Though the river is fed by melt from a glacier, this 150-foot (45-meter), inverted funnel-shaped hole was blasted into being by rising steam from geothermal vents below.

8. Ik-Kil Cenote, Mexico

world famous pits 08 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

Swimmers float in the saphirre waters of the Ik-Kil cenote, near the Maya site of Chichén Itzá in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Cenote means “natural well” in Spanish. Sinkholes occurring at sea level will fill up as high as the water table, creating the famous clear blue pools, used by the Maya royalty for both relaxation and ritual sacrifices.

9. Neversink Pit, Alabama

world famous pits 10 in 9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes

Neversink Pit, a wet limestone sinkhole in Alabama seen above in 1998, is about 50 feet (15 meters) deep and houses a rare species of fern. The sinkhole was bought in the 1990s by a group of cavers to preserve it for future generations.

Karst is the geologic term for landscapes formed mainly by the dissolving of limestone or dolomite bedrock. In the United States, karst underlies parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, northern Alabama, Texas, and most of Florida. Such areas are marked by sinking streams, subterranean drainage, large springs, caves—and, of course, sinkholes.

Become a fan on Facebook
Follow Chill Out Point on Twitter
Subscribe to feeds

Get Updates On Our Fun Images and Creative Artwork

Follow Chill Out Point on Facebook Follow Chill Out Point on Twitter Follow Chill Out Point on Twitter

Connect yourself with Chill Out Point to get daily updates!

SUBSCRIBE to Chill Out Point's News Feed to receive our fun articles as soon as we publish them. Don't forget to join our online communities on FACEBOOK and TWITTER.

Newest fun stories available on Chill Out Point's news feed !

Chill Out Point - Exclusive Updates News Feed

Comments

4 Responses to “9 World Famous Pits and Sinkholes”
  1. Cave Johnson says:

    Someone needs to stop dividing by zero…

  2. Jj says:

    Amazing pictures! Great list :)

  3. Soendoro Soetanto says:

    Amazing phenomena. Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

  4. durka says:

    Nice list and really fabulous pictures!

Speak Your Mind

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!


Note: Due to our comment administration, comments might take a while to appear. Please, be patient. Yours, Chill Out Point

Don't leave! Plenty more fun ahead! Chill out some more with super interesting stories from our
Chill Out Point - Fun Stories and Creative Art/Design

The Best Articles For Chilling Out With

WTF Girls: Photographed at Just the Right Moment WTF Girls: Photographed at Just the Right Moment Girls are usually calm and sensible creatures. But there comes a time in every girls life when things get out of control. It is at that time that it is of utmost importance to have a digital camera with you and capture moments on photographs that will last for eternity. To the greatest joy of whole of mankind (and I really mean MAN kind :) Enjoy this photo gallery with funny moments when girls show their wild side.
Think These Are Photoshopped? Guess again Think These Are Photoshopped? Guess again I understand if you feel like it is hard to be amazed by anything you see on the internet these days, when you know for a fact that any teenager with a computer and a copy of Adobe Photoshop or other photo manipulation software can put together a fake photograph in a couple of minutes. The modern technology, computers and gadgets have brought such endless possibilities to modern society that anything is possible with the right equipment and the pinch of photography skills, technology know-how and creativeness. Which would make you completely
20 Most Hilarious Movie Poster Remakes 20 Most Hilarious Movie Poster Remakes Have you ever wondered what would you get if you took a character from one blockbuster movie and make a poster for another movie featuring that character? Let's say you mix different, irreconcilable genres (horror and comedy, thriller and romance), or take celebrities to star in your favorite movie or just add your own creative touch to the movie poster.The outcome would be the funniest movie poster ever! See this amazing gallery of 20 most hilarious movie poster remakes. Amazing stuff...
Top 50 Photos Taken at The Perfect Time Top 50 Photos Taken at The Perfect Time To make a perfect photograph you need a good camera, steady arm, a lot of luck and a perfect moment. A perfect moment is an extraordinary point in time when something happens that is worth capturing and making immortal for the benefit of whole human kind. Check out the coolest photo gallery we have compiled for you; these are top 50 photos taken at the perfect time.
Wedding Photos That Will Never Be in Your Wedding Album Wedding Photos That Will Never Be in Your Wedding Album Some wedding photos were simply never meant to end up in the wedding photo album...The wedding photographers that took these pictures deserve to be punished for keeping some of these. But than, we wouldn't be able to laugh at this funny photos, wouldn't we?

Check Out The Most Viewed Stories Today

Sorry. No data so far.

See What Chillers Found Interesting in Last 30 Days

Sorry. No data so far.