MORE SPECTACULAR SINKHOLES
Added on: 8th Jan 2015
BOESMANSGAT
The Boesmansgat, also known as the “Bushman’s Hole,” is
believed to be the third-deepest freshwater sinkhole in the world.
Approximately 270m (886ft.) deep, the Boesmansgat in the
Northern Cape province of South Africa was first explored by
amateur diver Mike Rathbourne in 1977 and is home to the
Guinness Woman’s World Record for the deepest dive
(a 221m dive by Verna van Schaik on November 24, 2004).
SARISARIÑAMA
The most beautiful and most mysterious sinkholes of Venezuela
are natural wonders which include four types of round basins
containing their own unique ecosystem found nowhere else on earth.
Scientists are clueless on the origin of the stunning sink holes.
SASKATOON SINKHOLE
The combination of underground pipe problems and extremely
bad weather produced a three-meter wide sinkhole that opened up in
Idylwyld Drive in Saskatoon, Sasketchewan on March 12, 2012.
The constant freezing and thawing; and an unseasonably warm winter
put pressure on the underground pipes causing a 20-centimeter pipe
under the roadway to break spewing water and compromising the
road’s integrity.
BIMMAH SINKHOLE
One of nature’s great oddities has been turned into a virtual tourist trap.
Residents of Bimmah Oman have turned a spectacular looking
natural-occurring sinkhole into a swim park. Located about 6km from
Dibab along the coast graded road from Muscat to Sur the Oman sink
hole boasts of clear blue picturesque waters.
TORONTO
Even the biggest city in Canada is not immune to sinkholes two of
which appeared in the city of Toronto within the space of a few weeks:
the 10m long, 3m wide fissure that ruptured from the street water main
at Woodbine Avenue and John Street on September 28, 2011 and the
30m long 1.5m deep sinkhole on Bayview Avenue on November 4th
of the same year. Thankfully there were no casualties when these
sinkholes happened.
AGRICO GYPSUM STACK
The most devastating sinkhole erosion in Florida occurred in 1994
when a 15-story sinkhole tore open right beneath an 80-million-ton
pile of gypsum stack. The cave-in dumped 4 million to 6 million cubic
feet of toxic and radioactive gypsum and waste water into the Floridian
aquifer, which provides 90 percent of the state’s drinking water.
WINNIPEG HIGHWAY SINKHOLE
The most dramatic example of all the Canadian sinkholes happened
on the highway of Manitoba where parts of the highway simply
disappeared. After days of heavy rains with up to 12 inches of
precipitation, 200 meters of highway 83 near Inglis was literally washed
away with some points of the highway dropping to as low as 8m below
its original surface point.
MACUNGIE
The Macungie sinkhole which formed in June 1986 is a man-made
sink hole attributed to aging water infrastructure. At 75 feet wide and
35 feet deep, it caused major disruption of traffic and utility services
causing around $450,000 in stabilization and repair costs.
Comment on this