Sink Holes

there are several reasons for sinkholes One is the collapse of a portion of a cave system - these are the main access points to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Another is the collapse of a cave system due to the reduction of the water table, the main cause of sink holes in Florida and probably in the Yucatan. The final way is water undercutting, where for some reason there is water that has peculated into an area where it didn't previously exist and eroded what amounts to a temporary cave. These can be formed by everything from tidal penetration - as along the coasts of the world, to leaking water pipes in cities. That's not to say that there aren't other ways sink holes are formed, just that these are the 3 main ways. In Texas, like the Yucatan, without any human intervention, the second way has created lots of interesting places. http://www.westcave.org/about/index.php http://www.texasoutside.com/hamiltonpool.htm

It is just water dissolving the soil eroding it away underground.

I do not think it has something to do with us not taking good care of mother earth but it is a naturally occurring phenomenon. It just happen to be in an urban area but if that happens in the jungle no one would bother and get alarmed by it.

i really don't think sink holes has to do with environmental damage caused by humans. i just think its the earths natural structure at work. yes, sink holes are caused by rock movements beneath the earth's crust. a person on tv said before a big sink hole started in her area that she had been hearing strange sounds for 30 years before it happened.

hi staria I was reading one article that told how some rocks have small holes in them and as water seeps in it erodes away minerals from the rocks and ghe rocks and soil soften and a sinkhole appears. I think we probably do contribute in some ways as we waste water and we contaminate the air we breathe and the waterways. The scientists do say most sinkholes are nature caused but mankind also contributes to them. so we need to all take better care of this woeld we were given.

I guess people are absolved of blame here. Sink holes are natural occurrences which basically involves the process of erosion. I think underground water is the culprit. We could however hasten sinkhole appearances by irresponsible building construction for example. If geological studies aren't conducted prior to construction, they may be building on top of a limestone-rich ground. This type of sedimentary rock is easily eroded by underground water. If say the drainage system of the building accidentally burst open, the water may add to the existing ground water and thus hastening the limestone erosion. Some people think that this caused the Guatemala sinkhole, although the sinkhole appeared in a non-limestone ground.

This is scary. The first thing I thought of was about how we treat the earth also. But then, there are areas that do not have these so I guess it may be something natural.

I hate sink holes I don't understand why they don't do anything about it either!!!It really upsets me!!

I think sink holes not only happen in China and Guatamala but it also happen everywhere in the world, only the 2 countries have a bigger sink hole where other having significant smaller sink holes. It happen when people do not care about the environment and keep pumping out underground water and when the water depleted, there are pore and empty spaces to be fill up, so, sink holes happened.

I think yes, there are the movement of the rocks. All i can really say is, God has already taken care of it way before we learned about it....Guess we just cannot do anything about it except to take care of mother earth.

Our planet's surface is made up of many things, rock surrounded by sand, gravel, composting foliage...there is always a shifting going on, it rains and sand movees, gravel also, composting foliage collapses under weight, so it's actually more surprising that there aren't more sink holes than fewer. I realize the prospect of one opening in your town or mine or anyone's isn't an attractive one, but we have to accept that the earth is always in a state of flux, moving under the surface and at times that surface collapses or rises. As for taking care of mother earth, some things we simply can not affect, but we surely can clean up our messes.

I'm sure these are already the signs of the times as manifested in the Bible specifically in the Book of Revelation. Science just associate it with this reality of life.