Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Red Lake sinkhole in Croatia. A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water enters into underground passages known as ponor, swallow hole or swallet.
Subsidence frequently causes major problems in karst terrains, where dissolution of limestone by fluid flow in the subsurface creates voids (i.e., caves).If the roof of a void becomes too weak, it can collapse and the overlying rock and earth will fall into the space, causing subsidence at the surface.
[2] [1] Suffosion sinkholes are normally associated with karst topography although they may form in other types of rock including chalk, gypsum and basalt. In the karst of the UK's Yorkshire Dales, numerous surface depressions known locally as "shakeholes" are the result of glacial till washing into fissures in the underlying limestone.
Main Menu. News. News
Sinkholes can be classified on the basis of the processes by which they are formed: dissolution, cover-subsidence, and cover-collapse. Formation of sinkholes can be accelerated by intense withdrawals of groundwater over short periods of time, such as those caused by pumping for frost-protection of winter crops in west-central Florida.
Area of subsidence caused by the collapse of an underlying structure, such as sinkholes in karst terrain. Sink: an endorheic depression generally containing a persistent or intermittent (seasonal) lake, a salt flat (playa) or dry lake, or an ephemeral lake. Panhole: a shallow depression or basin eroded into flat or gently sloping, cohesive rock ...
Please see Glossary of engineering for a broad overview of the major concepts of engineering. Most of the terms listed in glossaries are already defined and explained within itself. However, glossaries like this one are useful for looking up, comparing and reviewing large numbers of terms together.
Sinkholes can range in size from a few feet wide to hundreds of acres, and anywhere from 1 to 100 feet or more deep. Sinkholes can swallow up cars, parts of roads and even houses.