They don’t know their butts from a hole in the ground.
As if we didn’t have enough problems caused by weather-related events such as tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, snowstorms, droughts and flooding. Now we need to start worrying about the sky falling in the form of asteroids making close approaches to Earth and the ground falling in the form of giant sinkholes!
Sinkholes are nothing new, but the recent frequency of this strange and dangerous phenomenon and the severity of them have some people alarmed. The official explanations for the spate of sinkhole incidents lately have been loose soil, acidic groundwater, new construction, leaky water pipes, coal mines, fracking and drought followed by rain. But I’ll tell you, I’m starting to wonder about the stability of the Earth’s crust.
There have just been too many of these incidents to chalk them up as “normal.” According to ABC News, insurance claims related to sinkholes more than doubled in Florida during a recent four-year period. There have been 41 documented cases of sinkholes in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, alone. A 30-foot deep sinkhole in Ohio caused part of Route 516 to collapse, and a giant sinkhole in Louisiana is now more than 800 feet in diameter.
And this bizarre trend has not been limited to the United States, by any means. China, Poland, Guatemala, Italy, Portugal, and Venezuela have all experienced sinkholes recently, with the one in Guatemala going 30 stories deep and the one in Venezuela being 1,000 feet wide.
If the Earth’s crust is going soft on us, geologists need to figure out why and give us some advance warning so that people and homes don’t continue disappearing with no notice. Check out this article for more information and some staggering aerial photos that show the real “depth” of this problem.
So, what do you think? Can all of the recent giant sinkholes around the globe be explained by loose soil, new construction, etc., or is there a deeper problem we’re not being told about? If something’s going on with the Earth’s crust, why aren’t we being kept up to speed about it? Have you ever seen a giant sinkhole up close and personal?
I can’t speak for elsewhere but here in Florida we have always had to deal with sinkholes. For us it’s the water flowing through the deep aquifer dissolving limestone. People don’t realize that there is a vast “river” under their feet. Sinkholes are scary because they can pop up anywhere, any time down here but they are natural and normal occurrences.
A picture of an event with no location and time information is a little like a headline stating that the President was assassinated, without telling us that you were referring to the event in Ford’s Theater in 1865.
This could be, removal of too much water from a particular area (Florida)…or entropy says every thing is cooling off and what happens when molten metal cools?? it shrinks and disturbs the upper layers of the earth’s mantle.
Recently there was a very graphic video on Facebook showing a very large shoreline on a lake somewhere in the south, perhaps Louisiana, I am not sure of the exact place. On this shoreline were giant pine/fir trees. Scientists has anticipated for some time that there were going to be sinkholes there, so they set up cameras just in case. The cameras filmed that entire strip of shoreline, and all the trees slowly being sucked down into the lake. It was mammoth. Awesome to see all that just disappear under the water. So there are sinkholes underneath the waters also.
You are referring to Lake Peigneur. Search on the term. This was as a result of a Salt Mine disaster. There was nothing mysterious about it. Yes, it was very dramatic and sucked down some rather huge items.
Sinkholes are NOT man made. The whole global warming thing is man made propaganda. Look at the earth. We started out as one continent (Pangea), then went to two (Eurasia), now we’re at 7. The cause, geologists have already given us. Continental shifts in the plates under the ocean floor. It’s what caused the shifts before (creating sinkholes, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, etc). Scientists say those plates are more active now than ever recorded. Who knows, we could be 20 continents by the end of the shift. But, it’s not manmade!
BTW: for you religious nuts: I’m christian but don’t but into this theory but, it’s one I’ve heard multiple times: God said in the end the world would be destroyed by fire. The largest fault line in plates under the ocean floor is called “the ring of fire”. Since revelation is spoken in parables some theologians believe that is what God meant. (I not one of them.)
Just Google platonic shifts. Geologists gave the answers already. No one carestto do their due diligence because, everyone seems to be wanting to push their own agenda.
Some, but certainly not all, sink holes are man made. There are at least three in Louisiana that are the result of mas actions. I am referring to the salt mine sink holes where man dug out massive salt mines then caused a rupture in the ceiling.
Its obvious, this is all caused by George Bush and Global Warming.
The term, Global Warming, has been changed to the more all encompassing “Climate Change” That is to take into the fold, Global Cooling, which was the warning before Global Warming. It’s a way to hedge the bets.
My ‘take’ on this situation is: the amount of new or remodel/addiitions to existing structures. I live near the coast in CA and the size of remodeled homes is unbelievable! I expect the entire coastline to start sinking soon—then we will all have great sunsets!
You’ve got a very subtle humor about you.
Sink holes? So you want to understand sink holes? First off I am a Christain but your not going to hear any religious stuff here, yeh God made the earth, he made the whole universe and we are still trying to figure out how it works, so what! Now sink holes fall in to a couple catagories, one man induced, cause by faults in the engineering of mines and oil harvesting. These seem to cover roughly 10% of known Sink holes. Two Climate induced, these are the result of climate fluctuations on natural occurring subterainian structures. Things like droughts and then times of heavy rains and snow and temperature ranges increasing, cause ground to loosen and resettle, this resettling can cause underground rivers and streams to collapse. these seem to cause most known sinkholes, mud slides, and bridge collapses. then there is the sudden movement of the continental plates, fortunately at the moment these only account for about 3% if sink holes and other disasters but when they really do get to moving they will make such a mess of things you will be inclined to forget about all previous incedenses.
Now it’s Obama and Hillary. There is underground tunneling going on in all countries, water and oil being taken out of the ground, haarp, chem-trails, shale drilling etc. I think they are man made because they are so round. A new weapon being tested on us. By he way there is no global warming.
These comments ludicrous, especially the crap the bible quoter’s spew out with their loving god killing the little bastards he created. Sick brains have cray delusions. Get a grip!
12212012 is the date the earth and our two suns swung across the galactic equator. In the few years leading up to that date the intensity of gravitational light and magnetic influences of this galactic conjunction have forced the earth to not only tilt further upon its axis but have caused its crust to expand. Aggravating tectonic and volcanic activities. Displacing water and weight around the world to cause draught.This phenomenon has happened to the solar system approximately 111 million times since the early stages of development. It was briefly exasperated by a cataclysm that occurred in the solar system about 3500 years ago the time of Noah and others who were informed about the coming disaster. It has absolutely nothing to do with manmade global climate change. The current population of Earth is nowhere near enough to amount to what is happening in the galaxy at this time. All we can do is sit back and ride it out until restabilization occurs.
Two suns?
You know…there has to be an invisible sun which gives its heat to everyone…
You know, of all the comments I read online on different sites, the liberals are THE only ones who are so horribly hateful and rude. Just full of hate. I am sorry to see it surface again here and on the topic of sinkholes of all things. They, talking to you Phillip, and you Scott. Talk about trolls, takes one to know one as we said when we were kids which is what you two sound like.
This sinkhole business is very scary to me. I live in the south where there are a lot of underground streams, caves, etc. This past spring we had a lot of rain and several small holes appeared in our backyard, one pretty large and pretty deep. I could hear water running through them. I have a great fear that this is a sinkhole in the making. Our driveway has dropped down in one place at a seam. As for the cause of sinkholes, I believe it’s underground streams and caves in general. The south is undermined with caves from what I’ve been told. I wish someone could reassure me in this matter but I fear there is no real answer or security.
There is some validity to the underwater streams and caves. I live in north Florida and just dug a 12x30x10ft deep walipini. 2ft down on the downslope, we hit clay then almost immediately limestone and quartz that are formed in rivers and streams. At one point, our entire area was under water. Now we have full beds of limestone that took thousands of years of water and decaying matter to form. If you go 100ft further down the hill my walipini is in, there’s an enormous sinkhole on the other side of my fence. I’ve watched it grow and consume 3trees (50-100ft each) just in the last year. The water previously here, is the only viable culprit.
I don’t believe man made mistakes had any thing to do with the holes, at least some of them , The holes that are almost round may have been made by a black hole passing through earth. We do not know that much about them.
the Earth is just going through a big change. next will be the sea level rising.
February 2014’s sinkhole (cave collapse) in Bowling Green, Kentucky literally ate eight Corvettes at the National Corvette Museum (www.corvettemuseum.org). Lots of national and international attention followed and it continues today, though somewhat abated.
Museum officials tentatively decided this week to capitalize upon subsequent tourist interest and incorporate part of the hole and a few damaged cars into the Museum’s overall displays.
What a fascinating turn of events and creative thinking. Thank God it was only cars and not humans who were swallowed up February 12th of this year. Lots of caves in that area…famous Mammoth Cave about 30 miles away. …this one was unknown until it showed up.
Wow! I hope most of these comments are by kidders. Otherwise, there are a LOT of vacant skulls with loud voices. I have credentials in geology, oil extraction and engineering, and I’d wager I have studied more incidences than all the kooks have seen combined.
The possibility of fracking causing this problem is ridiculous. First, the fracking zone is so far below the surface that geologic structure in between is 100% capable of bridging. Yes, there is some danger from mines close to the surface, but for the vast majority of sinkholes, mining is simply not a factor.
The truth is that there are several environmental causes for sinkholes. Cases over the past 100 million years have been logged. And just like natural climate cycles over the eons, there have been cycles of sinkhole formation. The vast majority of sinkholes occur because of underground water flow. Some will say that excess CO2 in the atmosphere is making groundwater more acid. The problem is that while that may be true, volcanic activity regularly spews out far more acid-forming gases than man-made CO2. Remember when fluorocarbons were making holes in the ozone? Wonder why you don’t hear anything about that today? Well, when Mt. Pinatubo (Philippines) blew, scientists had time to set out instruments. The scientists discovered that that single eruption emitted more fluorocarbons than all the fluorocarbons made by man in the previous CENTURY. Ooops!
Those of us who have studied geomorphology overwhelmingly agree that the current rate of sinkhole formation is within historic norms. What is drastically different today is the increase in population, the extent of man-made infrastructure being built, and the enormous increase in the availability of “news”. Perhaps there are more sinkholes today, but more likely it is us being more aware that makes it seems like the frequency and severity are increasing.
I will give Frank and others concerned kudos for making us aware. There is a lot of development that has been allowed in areas that are prone to sinkholes. More should be done to monitor those areas and to make the public aware, although that may not be politically acceptable.
Thank you for your insight.
Outstanding and informative comment. Thank you.
Thanks for the soundly reassuring comments. Thanks also for complete sentences, good spelling and grammar, indicating much. Should we not examine and refrain from the propensity to knee-jerk responses that media have so skillfully installed? Is the sky really falling on this our micro-second in the late morning of geologic history, a note in a minor log of a journey in a yet larger dimensionless ‘liquid clock’, a ‘sea’ of countless objects, seen and unseen?
After all is said and done, GOD.is in control
Well said, informative and nicely calm. Thank you.
I believe these natural disasters are because our society has become so evil that God is getting fed up. If we don’t return to God’s ways we are going to bring on our on destruction.
OH YAH! IT’S GOD PUNISHING US. GIVE ME A BREAK. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THEEARTH CRUST. WE HAVE HAD UNUSAL WEATHER AND IT’S THE EARTH GOING TROUGH A CYCLE. RAED OSITS BLOG AND LEARN SOMETHING OTHER THAN SLAPPING YOUR BIBLE AROUND.
Why should anyone give you a break? The truth is god created the heavens and earth and we are all here as planned. I believe wholeheartedly what Osito had to say but I also believe all things are as he (GOD) planned. we were commanded to tend to the earth and if the “governments” of man are ignoring the dangers because we are so hard pressed for space or because we are ignorant to the land we have been given to tend then it makes perfect sense to me physically and spiritually. The sad part is people like “punisher” say things like “give me a break” and “slappin your bible around”-and you know, every viewer who sees my response will have a different emotional temperature and read it accordingly. First off There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus Romans 8, I’ll not tarnish the verse with my cynical defaults. Second off why take it easy on you or perhaps you would like to change your words? Why should anyone give you a break? Funny thing is Christians believe god does just that and you troll him for it, whoops I’m starting to slip up but you see there it it is. The truth is always there for us to observe. Christians walk by faith and faith a lone if it were any other way how could we say we believe. we are commanded to replicate his sacrifice by admitting “you know the creation is not as important as the creator.” Those who deny him will ultimately choose the creation first. Anyway I digress. point is I’m srry if you were mistreated by another human being in life but no one of a healthy conscious enjoys the suffering of others I would submit to you to stop buying into a lie because honestly you either care about truth or you care about the status quo….
We have returned to God’s ways, mean mothers killing innocents all over the world. Oh wait, Jehovah and Allah may be false gods, yeah, that’s it.
As a miner I have seen many naturel caverns. One was 179 foot wide and 300 foot deep.
Frank,
You must be doing something right, you now have quite a following of trolls on someones payroll keeping you company..
Hey Frank, I was born and grew up in Wilkes-Barre, PA. While I lived there my now wife’s grandmother fell into a 20′ deep sink hole in her backyard while hanging clothes. Turned out that area was mined so much by the coal companies that the entire area is now unstable. I once saw a map of the area showing the different mining routes. At my Mother’s house approximately one mile from the other site I mentioned above, when I was a kid I could hear people talking (I’m guessing miners) while I was in her basement. Scary! There were many such sinkholes in that part of Northeastern PA. By the way, this is also the same area where fracking is going on right now by the oil & gas companies. I left that area in 1968 when I joined the USMC and have never returned. I now live in New Jersey where I can mention several cities that should fall into a sinkhole! Trenton, Camden, Newark……lol
Wow. I can’t imagine the power that story could have in the family: “Say your prayers or God might let you fall into a sinkhole, like Grandma.” ha!
For over 200 years we have been mining the earth for Ores, coal, and Oil. we use these materials for our joy and social well being. Since in the case of Fuels we use as Heat and transportations, there are only ashes and gases that remain. Nothing Solid is put back, so we shrinking our Earth. Thereby the reason for sinkholes. Oil is the lifeblood and Coal the Flesh of the Planet earth the end will come when we have nothing more to Mine.
Fracking is screwing up the earth crust they put chemicals in the ground where they drill and then take hydralic pressure and it cracks rocks eats away stone and messes up the water table. Where I live we have coal mines then they came in Fracking the ground and we are having all kinds of small big sink holes. Also just want to make one more comment and I tried to send this to other folks but no good. You take oil, coal, or other minerals out of the ground and and nothing to replace it. Take a foam ball about big as a basketball hang it by a needle and string and spin it and its perfect. Then take a knife and cut sections out and then spin it again and it wobbles,pitches different ways and tis is want these Government and greedy people are doing to our Planet.
You’re Right, Patrick But I live in N. Texas & the “Barnett Shale” is one of the biggest nat.gas fields around and we now have “EarthQuakes” too!! Another issues is, these companies are driling then filling some of the holes UP with Chemicals too expensive to dispose of in a safe way meaning all the
Chemicals will leak into our underground Water. You’ve seen the video’s of “Lighting Tap Water on Fire” That’s these chemicals leaching into our drinking water & not enough people to check the cocktail of Stuff they fill the Frack Holes with. It’s a bad deal for the people and you see all the “Cancer Commercials” on TV now.
The Companies & Government are allowing this for the profit & Big Medical makes money off all the Cancers. Believe it!! Scary how they’ve done this without ANY CARES for the People…..? peace to you
I don’t know what’s causing this, but it sure would be kinda nice to have one of these swallow the Whitehouse, IRS and NSA.
AMEN! amen! amen!
Ricky finally one I agree with. I love it when people talk about things they have no concept of how it actually works. Fracking messing up water tables. I live in Texas if fracking was going to cause these types of problems I am fairly sure Texas would be the epicenter of all these events. We have done more of it here longer then anywhere on earth hands down by a long shot. Also I am fairly sure they are not fracking in china but you can be darn sure they wish they could. Come on guys fracking is like global warming. Not an issue! Let’s figure out what is going on without hysterics or bad information we already have those people we all laugh at them they are called democrats.
This is so ironic, as it is what I have been saying a lot over the past two years or so. I would like to include the Congress. We sure could use a fresh start .
The reason I bought (in the mountains) sort of is
for the fact that sinkholes usually appear and exist in flat or semi flat terrain. Ones does not know what a nice three acre or larger area of flat land may be floating on.
FRANK< I am Surprised you can not find a reason to Blame The Liberals and President OB for the sink holes; you are good at blaming all the other Woes on us.
That’s because he knows they are created by fracking. You sink a pipe deep into the ground and then you go sideways with it. You dislodge so much earth this way. Then, you suck out all the oil that is in any giant pit you encounter with your pipe, leaving an empty cavity. The earth above it falls into the hole and voile’ you have created a sinkhole.
This is what happens when we dig up all the gems, minerals, & petroleum from the earth & replace it with plastic.
It doesn’t look like that’s on the list of nationally required investigations, but that may vary by state and certainly falls outside of my experience . http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/assistance/sectors/constructmyer/myerguide.pdf
We’ve already had fairly recent tragic events of this kind in Florida. At least one life was lost (the man was unable to be rescued…he lived for a few days, while people helplessly tried to help. His whole home collapsed inside the hole, awakening him from sleep in his bed.)
I read recently on Facebook about an entire sub-division in Florida that was sinking slowly into the earth below. Pictures verified this. It was a horrible thing to see.
Frank, my name is Jesse Skiles. I’m 65 years old and buying my first home. This sinkhole business has me concerned, basically because our home is in a fairly new subdivision. Our home was built on ’04. With so much new construction in a previously unused portion of land, you have to wonder if the possibility of cavernous undergrounds does exist in places like this. Do they even check for things like this before beginning construction on a completely new site? I mean, this is central Texas where rain is an occasional blessing and a not a certainty taken for granted. This, combined with the fact that our soil is a sandy loam–which is to say, unstable–causes shifting foundations, cracked slabs and a variety of abnormal conditions. Any thoughts on this?
Sinkholes only occur in Limestone deposits where our acid rain dissolves rock underground and travels making caverns and tunnels. So check out a quadrangle map from the USGS to see if your area is underlain by a Limestone deposit before you buy.
Sinkholes ONLY occur in Limestone deposits? No. Not true. There are many other things that cause sinkholes and in some areas the limestone deposit area is the better area.
Mr. Skiles, I don’t have firsthand experience in your particular location. Almost everywhere these days an Environmental Impact Review is required for developments like subdivisions. As part of the review, a report on the geology and soils at the site are required. If you contact the approving agency for the subdivision (City or County Planning Department?), they should be able to show you that report. My guess is that you have nothing to be concerned about, but please check it out.