Residents of an urban neighborhood in Guatemala City experienced the opening up of a giant sinkhole in May 2010. It swallowed a three-story building and left a deep hole. EarthSky spoke with Dan Doctor, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who studies sinkholes.
Dan Doctor: We wouldn’t consider Guatemala City to be a type of terrain that’s vulnerable to these types of sinkholes.
Doctor said that sinkholes are created when the ground collapses into a void beneath the surface. This usually happens in places where water dissolves away rocks like limestone and gypsum. But that’s not the case in Guatemala City. It’s built on volcanic rock and ash. Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Agatha might have stressed the city’s human infrastructure – water mains or sewer systems – to help create the May 2010 sinkhole.
Dan Doctor: In some cases, you can have rather significant voids formed in the subsurface that later will collapse if they reach the surface.
This sinkhole is just 5 kilometers – or 3 miles – from where another sinkhole in Guatemala City opened in 2007. Local authorities and geologists are still investigating what caused the sinkhole. Doctor added that sinkholes are common all over the world and that in the U.S. Florida is the only state he knows that requires sinkhole insurance for homes.
Dan Doctor: Probably Florida is one area where they occur with such a high frequency and affect so many people.
He said that sinkholes are common all over the world.
Dan Doctor: There are a number of examples where sinkholes have opened up within cities. The one that’s opened up in Guatemala City is quite dramatic indeed.
He added that dealing with an urban sinkhole – especially one of the size and depth of the Guatemala City sinkhole – is not an easy job.
Dan Doctor: One engineering solution is to try to fill it. They seem to be so large and so deep that filling them doesn’t seem like it will solve the problem, but that’s typically what people will do. Still, you don’t just want to throw anything into a sinkhole. Sinkholes are direct conduits to your groundwater system. So you don’t want put anything into it that you wouldn’t want to drink later, especially if you have a well nearby. If a sinkhole did occur and it was going to be engineered properly to be repaired, it’s best to consult a geo-technical firm. And usually they’ll fill it with rock, sediment, or some type of cement or grout.
Why is the sink hole perfectly circular with vertical sides? it looks distinctly man made. It also seems strange to me that there is no evidence of debris at the bottom.
Good question
It was aliens. DUH
Not aliens, it was predators looking for aliens!
Chris you retard man made what the hell, the logitics of digging a 60 meter hole in the middle of city in a night and knocking down a building without a single person knowing and then moving all the heavy macinery in and out and the debris in one go please tell me your not that thick omg man made iv never heard anythign so stupid!!!!!!
At least he can spell correctly.
Hello,
For those wondering why it is so round: this is a common geometry for these type of “cover-collapse” sinkholes, also called “dropout” sinkholes. Fine-grained sediment often has enough cohesion that it will hold itself together. When a void develops, the sediment that collapses into the void will form a soil arch, resembling a dome in 3-dimensions. This is a stable geometry and will hold up the walls of the void, much like an arch holds up walls of a building over a doorway. The hole will progressively grow upward over time, but will maintain its arch-like cross section, until it ultimately breaks the surface and we see a circular hole. See a diagram here:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3060/
This can also occur in rock, and sometimes the void beneath the surface is much larger than the diameter of the hole on the surface, revealing a large cavernous room with a dome-shaped roof. The Devil’s Sinkhole in Texas is a nice example:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/devils_sinkhole/
Thanks Dan. Many were asking both here and on our Facebook page. I posted your answer there, btw.
http://www.facebook.com/EarthSky
Geez can’t you Idiots see? It’s the SILVER SURFER!!!tm
God works in wonderous ways!
Do sinkholes only happen in areas that are near oceans or can they happen further in land. Do they happen often and if so does it have anything to do gobal warming?
Robin
When something likes this occurs where does the water from the storm goes? Shouldn’t the sinkhole stay filled with water?
Every picture of the sinkhole no matter from what news source seem to be taken from the same angle even perhaps the same camera. This makes me wonder it the picture has been “photoshoped”.
HOW COME THIS IS HAPPENINGGG!!!???? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
@Robin, Sinkholes happen everywhere, and all the time, but typically in areas where the geology around the sinkhole is made of limestone, gypsum, or salt. That’s because water can dissolve away those types of rocks and create the subsurface voids that cause sinkholes. The sinkhole in Guatemala City is not typical, but I don’t believe it has anything to do with global warming. In answer to your other question, the sinkhole is probably too deep to be filled up with stormwater, and the water probably eventually gets absorbed into the ground (like water everywhere else).
@ap garcia & chris, the sinkhole is not photoshopped. There are on the ground reports, and photos from other perspectives. The one shown above is from the Guatemalan government and has captured the public’s attention. There’s good answers to all your questions on Vanity Fair’s website, of all places: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/06/what-caused-the-guatemala-sinkhole-and-why-is-it-so-round.html
@a p garcia, It mad national news it was on new casts and world known scientists are looking into it. ITS NOT PHOTOSHOPED. Also @Robin no this isnt do to global warming. Tropical storms happen all the time and this was do to years of water erosion eventually making its way to the earths’ surface and this storm just happened to break through the somewhat “thin” layer that was left on top. Also robin about the water question you cannot see the bottom of the sinkhole from these pictures also its like digging a hole in your backyard and putting a running hose in it. The water may be there for a bit but it eventually gets absorbed by the ground from gravity doing its thing.
Mitchell, young man, where did you attend school? Your knowledge of science appears to be sound, but your misuse of our language robs you of credibility.
@Lindsay patterson. You beat me to it… =)
The world is just eating itself.
It’s pissed off, and eating itself.
Yes Our Planet is very tired ..Just think you was alive for Billions of years and in a blink of an eye…. Everything was being taken from you and you was drilled 24 7′s and after that a good bombing..Hum Yes Our Planet is more than Pissed.
The Bible says something about this kind of stuff. Numbers 16:32 “And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses…” That’s just what the earth does. It opens it mouth and swallows. It’s just one of those God ordained things like earthquakes. He calls the shots.
Oh Great Spirit people are starting to see you everywhere, in nature, and in each other. Look to the light (sun/son), Awaken thee. Things happen…let it go.
@Maria P
who?
Where do babies come from?
Babies come from the sink hole….duh!
I thought babies came from the stalk???
Unless the stalk picks them up from sinkhole on route to delivery using it as somekind of large storage depot. I know that if I were the stalk I wouldn’t want to go home after a hard days delivering to even more undelivered babies. I’d want to chill out with Mrs stalk and put my feet up.
@Maria P
Well I happen to disagree with you. The god I know and have studied about wouldn’t want this to happen to his children. I’ll just strike it up to over population and just building in the wrong spot at the wrong times.
@NerdFury
You are wrong and have been studying a false god. The almightly is vengeful and should ‘his children’ continually step out of line God can and ill rule with an iron fist. By studying god you must have learned that when the world is full of sin god will not think twice about wiping out populations without predjudice. Previously God has demanded sacrifice and wiped out populations with plagues, diseases ‘natural disasters’ etc….
You may have a point about over population though, what do we humans do to control overpopuated species? thats right, we cull them!
Take this as a warning people, have either overpopulated and due to our limited resources should be expecting a cull or we (meaning humans) have annoyed God andthe great one is flexing muscles before the smiting starts.
This is how it starts, people! The plates are starting to move. The pole shift is imminent. The END is NEAR!
HI..
maybe thats old mining area b4! the getting collapse because of earth lampak to the moon.^^
Many cities in China appeared sinkholes these days and drawed panic. I hope everything will be ok.
They had to test fire the laser or plasma cannon somewhere.. where they knew it was least likely to penetrate. Best place is with vermin nobody really cares about.
stfu troll.
U mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. You are all wrong……. It’s a sign from Jesus that his coming is near!!!!!!!!!
OMGoddess, look to the sun/son and that is the Christ light. The great spirit is in everything and everywhere. We are also, as is nature. We can not go against nature. Let it go its that simple…just let go, it nature and we are nature. Nature is natural.
It is all a HOAX…obvious manipulation of pics using digital imaging. FAKE as a 3 dollar bill.
very informative
But will we ever see pictures of the inside of this beast? That’s the 10 million dollar question.
Call me suspicious. I am 56 years old and have never even heard of a sinkhole before a couple of months ago. Why?
Now, the seem to be appearing everywhere and anywehere all over the world.
Are scientists keeping something from us? Like NASA have with predicted 10 mile across metorite that is predicted to get so close to the Earth in ten years time that, it will actually pass between the Earth and our communication satalites.
I love seeing all the divers types of Dec 21,2012 mayan prophecy, I believe one superb idea that has come of all of this, even if nothing materializes is that it has opened our minds to the possibility that we may not be here forever and that we need to hold dear the life we have.
Idiots! Cann’t you see, it is a black hole at work. I never had so much fun, that is reading your comments.
Firstly, I apologize for calling anyone an idiot, earlier. In this Universe, circular geometric shapes of the stars, planets and moons, or for example, the eye of the hurricane are caused by the spin of the object or the forces operating within. Sinking of the top layer of earth’s crust is common but does not occur in precisely circular shapes. So then, what happened here? The black holes are not a phenomenon of our Universe but a fundamental component of its mechanism. The black holes come in different sizes. We know so little about the whole thing but it’s plausible that a mini black hole passed through the earth or was generated from the core of the earth and caused this phenomenon. The only other explanation for the shape of the sink hole in Guatemala City is the work of an intelligent mind/s.
this is soooo scary theres a earthquake in haiti guess what i live there with my whole family wow i cant let that happend to my family