Devil's Hole near Hawthorne, Florida, USA.

A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water. Sinkholes may vary in size from less than a meter to several hundred meters both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. They may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2576x1932, 1089 KB) Summary A sinkhole near Hawthorne, Florida. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2576x1932, 1089 KB) Summary A sinkhole near Hawthorne, Florida. ... Hawthorne is a city located in Alachua County, Florida. ... Sacred Cenote, Chichén Itzá Cenote in Quintana Roo, Mexico Cenote (pronounced in Spanish seh-no-teh and in English say-no-tay, plural: cenotes) is the name given in Central America and southern Mexico to a type of freshwater-filled limestone sinkhole. ... Loess field in Germany Surface-water-gley developed in glacial till, Northern Ireland Technically, soil forms the pedosphere: the interface between the lithosphere (rocky part of the planet) and the biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. ...

Mechanisms of formation may include the gradual removal of slightly soluble bedrock (such as limestone) by percolating water, the collapse of a cave roof, or a lowering of the water table. Occasionally a sinkhole may exhibit a visible opening into a cave below. In the case of exceptionally large sinkholes, such as Cedar Sink at Mammoth Cave National Park, USA, a stream or river may be visible across its bottom flowing from one side to the other.-1... A road destroyed by subsidence and shear. ... Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico A cave is a natural underground void large enough for a human to enter. ... Cross section showing the water table varying with surface topography as well as a perched water table The water table or phreatic surface is the surface where the water pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure. ... Mammoth Cave National Park is a U.S. National Park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the most elongated cave system known in the world. ... Butchers Creek, Omeo, Victoria A stream, brook, beck, burn or creek, is a body of water with a detectable current, confined within a bed and banks. ...

Sinkholes may capture surface drainage for running or standing water, but may also form in currently high and dry locations. The state of Florida in the USA is known for having frequent sinkholes, especially in the central part of the state. The Murge area in southern Italy also has numerous sinkholes. Sinkholes can be formed in retention ponds from large amounts of rain. Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area. ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Largest metro area Miami Area  Ranked 22nd  - Total 65,795[1] sq mi (170,304[1] km²)  - Width 361 miles (582 km)  - Length 447 miles (721 km)  - % water 17. ... Murgia (plural: Murge) is a sub-region of Apulia (Puglia) in southern Italy, corresponding to a karst topographic plateau of rectangular shape, occupying the central area of the region. ...

A special type of sinkhole - formed by rainwater leaking through the pavement and carrying dirt into a ruptured sewer pipe.

Sinkholes near the Dead Sea, formed by dissolution of underground salt by incoming freshwater, as a result of a continuing sea level drop.

Sinkholes are usually but not always linked with karst landscapes. In such regions, there may be hundreds or even thousands of sinkholes in a small area so that the surface as seen from the air looks pock-marked, and there are no surface streams because all drainage occurs sub-surface. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1965x1179, 507 KB) This is a sinkhole in a parking lot at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA, USA. A contractor I spoke with said the hole was 32 feet deep. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1965x1179, 507 KB) This is a sinkhole in a parking lot at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA, USA. A contractor I spoke with said the hole was 32 feet deep. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3264x2448, 2251 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dead Sea Sinkhole Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3264x2448, 2251 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dead Sea Sinkhole Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used... The Dead Sea (‎, yam ha-melaħ, Sea of Salt; Quranic Arabic: , baħrᵘ l- mayitⁱ [3], Death Sea) is a salt lake between the West Bank and Israel to the west, and Jordan to the east. ... Karst topography occurs when a landscape is marked by underground drainage patterns. ...

Sinkholes have been used for centuries as disposal sites for various forms of waste. A consequence of this is the pollution of groundwater resources, with serious health implications in such areas. Waste inside a wheelie bin Waste in a bin bag Waste, rubbish, trash, garbage, or junk is unwanted or undesired material. ... It has been suggested that Pollutant be merged into this article or section. ... Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of geologic formations. ...

Sinkholes also form from human activity, such as the rare but still occasional collapse of abandoned mines in places like West Virginia, USA. More commonly, sinkholes occur in urban areas due to water main breaks or sewer collapses when old pipes give way. They can also occur from the overpumping and extraction of groundwater and subsurface fluids. Chuquicamata, the largest open pit copper mine in the world, Chile. ... Official language(s) English Capital Charleston Largest city Charleston Area  Ranked 41st  - Total 24,244 sq mi (62,809 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 240 miles (385 km)  - % water 0. ... Crowded Shibuya, Tokyo shopping district An urban area is an area with an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. ... A municipal water system is a large system of reservoirs and large-scale piping which supplies fresh water, suitable for human consumption, to houses and other residences. ... A sewer is an artificial conduit or system of conduits used to remove sewage (human liquid waste) and to provide drainage. ... An elevated section of the Alaska Pipeline. ...

When sinkholes are very deep or connected to caves, they may offer challenges for experienced cavers or, when water-filled, divers. Some of the most spectacular are the Zacatón cenote in Mexico, the Boesmansgat sinkhole in South Africa, Sarisariñama tepuy in Venezuela, and in the town of Mount Gambier, South Australia. sport of exploring caves. ... Inside the cave at Cave Stream, New Zealand Caving is the recreational sport of exploring caves. ... Zacatón is one of a group of five interconnected sinkholes, or cenotes, located in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. ... Boesmansgat, also known in English as Bushmans Hole, is believed to be the third-deepest submerged freshwater cave in the world. ... The Sarisariñama tepui is a mountain in the Jaua-Sarisariñama National Park at the far south-west of Bolívar State, Venezuela, near the border with Brazil. ... Kukenan-Tepui. ... Mount Gambier is the second most populous city in South Australia after Adelaide, the capital of the State. ...

See also

• Cenote
• Great Blue Hole
• karst topography
• Pipe Creek Sinkhole
• Sarisariñama
• Voçoroca

Sacred Cenote, Chichén Itzá Cenote in Quintana Roo, Mexico Cenote (pronounced in Spanish seh-no-teh and in English say-no-tay, plural: cenotes) is the name given in Central America and southern Mexico to a type of freshwater-filled limestone sinkhole. ... The Great Blue Hole, located near Ambergris Caye, Belize. ... Karst topography is a three-dimensional landscape shaped by the dissolution of a soluble layer or layers of bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite. ... Pipe Creek Sinkhole near Swayzee in Grant County, Indiana, is one of the most important paleontological sites in the interior of the eastern half of North America. ... The Sarisariñama tepui is a mountain in the Jaua-Sarisariñama National Park at the far south-west of Bolívar State, Venezuela, near the border with Brazil. ... In Brazil, a sudden collapse of a large area of land, associated with a lack of surface vegetation, is known as a vocoroca. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Category:Sinkhole

• Florida Sinkhole Guide
• Kapsia Cave : Exploration of a Sinkhole in Arkadia, Greece
• Guatemala City, Sinkhole