Sinkholes are appearing around the globe, apparently. I remember something about a year or so ago, a camping area on the beach in Queensland was swallowed up. And I’ve just seen this pic show up:

and I start to wonder, how much of this is unexpected, and how much is caused by us?

How much oil, water (bore water, albeit not much), CO2 and other things can be taken from underground before it starts to collapse in on itself and starts becoming major problems? Or is that what’s causing all these holes to be created?

I was going to include with that post – the pic comes from Discover magazine:

http://discovermagazine.com/2014/dec/10-methane-at-the-bottom-of-siberian-crater-mystery

JTQ said:

Sinkholes are appearing around the globe, apparently. I remember something about a year or so ago, a camping area on the beach in Queensland was swallowed up. And I’ve just seen this pic show up:

and I start to wonder, how much of this is unexpected, and how much is caused by us?

How much oil, water (bore water, albeit not much), CO2 and other things can be taken from underground before it starts to collapse in on itself and starts becoming major problems? Or is that what’s causing all these holes to be created?

Sinkholes are a normal geological feature. Provide evidence that they are becoming more common.

one happened in the Launceston CBD today

I have five sink holes in my home

dv said:

Sinkholes are a normal geological feature. Provide evidence that they are becoming more common.

No.

:)

Actually I’m not claiming they’re becoming more common. I haven’t looked into the frequency of them. But I’ve just heard more about them in recent times, and either I’m only seeing the news anytime these happen, or they’re being reported now more than they previously were… Most likely the former, I’m guessing.

But if they’re a normal thing, I guess that kind of to some degree answers what I was wondering, although it does pose another question.

If it’s a normal thing, then what’s causing them to happen? Surely there’s got to be something moving around underground to make way for the holes to be created.

And as always, please forgive my lack of general knowledge of anything science related. My high school wasn’t really into the “effective education” thing.

Probably not any more, but now one on the other side of the world is available for viewing by the world simply and cheaply and instantly.

Sink holes

Sinkholes – wikipedia

Sink hole images

JTQ said:

How much oil, water (bore water, albeit not much), CO2 and other things can be taken from underground before it starts to collapse in on itself and starts becoming major problems? Or is that what’s causing all these holes to be created?

Most geological liquids or gases are actually stored in the pore space of rocks themselves, as opposed to being contained in hollow underground caverns. When these sorts of things are extracted they are generally pumped to the surface in a way not dissimilar to how you would by sucking on a straw inserted into a water soaked sponge and as such no void is actually left behind.

Extraction of mineral deposits is generally a bit different, but often the mining method accounts for the void by using a fill material or through exploiting the natural expansion of geological material as it is fractured.

The ‘sink hole’ that was created at Inskip Point (in the beach in Qld that was in the news late last year) was more likely to be a result of a circular slope failure than is was the more specific geological definition of the term.

diddly-squat said:

JTQ said:

How much oil, water (bore water, albeit not much), CO2 and other things can be taken from underground before it starts to collapse in on itself and starts becoming major problems? Or is that what’s causing all these holes to be created?

Most geological liquids or gases are actually stored in the pore space of rocks themselves, as opposed to being contained in hollow underground caverns. When these sorts of things are extracted they are generally pumped to the surface in a way not dissimilar to how you would by sucking on a straw inserted into a water soaked sponge and as such no void is actually left behind.

Extraction of mineral deposits is generally a bit different, but often the mining method accounts for the void by using a fill material or through exploiting the natural expansion of geological material as it is fractured.

The ‘sink hole’ that was created at Inskip Point (in the beach in Qld that was in the news late last year) was more likely to be a result of a circular slope failure than is was the more specific geological definition of the term.

Sinkholes have a lot to do with water eroding limestone formations and almost nothing to do with mining or other man-made activity. Potholes in roads have a different origin.

I became aware of large numbers of large sinkholes in Russia quite a few decades ago.

Arts said:

I have five sink holes in my home

i’ve got one that flushes

The daughter-in-law of a close friend has one on her Florida panhandle property, complete with alligators living in it.

to answer the question

Sink holes are common

there are different types

as the earth is warming, we will see more of them

interesting article about Siberian sinkholes

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mystery-of-the-siberian-holes-at-the-end-of-the-world-solved-scientists-offer-explanation-9642988.html

sink-holes are natural and man made

natural ones occur due to underground erosion of soft rocks

man made ones occur from burst water pipes