A massive sinkhole that threatens a house suddenly emerged in Mexico.
The sinkhole opened in a field near the Santa Maria Zacatepec, a town situated in the state of Puebla, southern Mexico. Its geometry is near-circular and initially measured about 5 meters. However, it quickly started laterally expanding reaching more than 90 meters in diameter and more than 18 meters in depth. It currently threatens a local house that is some meters away. Unfortunately, when its expansion will stop is a complex issue that cannot be predicted.
Sinkholes are depressions that form due to the lack of stability of shallow voids within the ground or due to human activities and may pose a severe threat to infrastructure. They usually emerge in carbonate rocks (e.g., limestones) due to karst processes that dissolve the rock or in soft, unconsolidated rocks due to erosion from the underground water. The dissolution procedure erodes the underground bedrock, which can no longer support the roof's weight, leading to a collapse. The sudden failure of the unsupported ground material is hazardous for people since it usually occurs without warning. The size of a sinkhole may significantly vary from centimeters to hundreds of meters.
The current sinkhole appeared on Saturday, May 30, 2021, and is filled with water. According to authorities, the field is covered by volcanic deposits, hence, the collapse is probably associated with groundwater erosion (definitely not karst processes). An environmental secretary stated that the failure may also be attributed to the continual cultivation of the ground which may have impacted its properties or to the extraction of the groundwater (a process that typically results in large subsidence). In the second case, the sinkhole would have been caused by human impact. In addition, Mexican authorities suggested that a nearby fault could have affected the conditions which favored the ground collapse.
In any case, the causes of the ground failure are investigated with engineers and geologists visiting the site. Testing on soil samples will be performed and the results will be published in the following month.
There are no accidents associated with the ground failure and the family living in the nearby house has been evacuated. The owners stated that they heard a loud noise and bubbling water appeared. Then, the ground sank, fortunately without swallowing the structure. Locals suggested that the land that is currently used for agriculture used to be a pond in the past.
Despite the field and the potential infrastructure damage, the sinkhole is impressive and has become an attraction with many local people visiting the site.
Photographs and a video of the stunning ground failure can be found below.
Sources: Independent, CNN, Dailymail, Forbes
A massive sinkhole emerged near a hospital in the city of Naples, Italy. The sinkhole opened on Fri...
A residence collapsed due to a large sinkhole that opened in a Russian village. A sinkhole is a dep...
A sinkhole appeared at the garden of a residence after an old mine beneath collapsed. The sinkhole...
The sinkhole begun to form on Friday, July 14, 2017, in the Pasco County's Land O' Lakes community n...
6 cars were buried under the ground after a massive sinkhole opened up in the parking lot of the Tan...
Two sinkholes in west Texas near the town of Wink are growing rapidly according to a study by Southe...
A massive sinkhole swallowed and destroyed a parked car in the city of Dale, Virginia. The sinkhole...
Earlier this month on August 2nd, a large sinkhole formed in the backyard of a country home in Ipswi...
About 12 sinkholes have opened in Sea Bright beach, located in New Jersey, during the past days. Th...