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#1
06-01-2010, 03:19 PM
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OT - Astounding Guatemala Sinkhole
Speaking of karst features and blue holes, here's a close relative that just formed in Guatemala. A sinkhole in English, referred to locally as a hundimiento and just appeared in the news. It is an amazing and terrifying sight for residents. Another outgrowth of Tropical Storm Agatha and all the horrible losses related to its passage over Central America.
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/gobiernodeguatemala/ "Storm Opens Giant Sinkhole in Guatemala City (June 1) -- It looks like a gateway to hell. A 200-foot-deep sinkhole in the north of Guatemala City suddenly opened up in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Agatha, pulling a three-story building and a residential home into the bowels of the earth. The colossal chasm is just the latest sign of the chaos caused by this weekend's wild and violent weather, which killed at least 145 people across Central America. Agatha dumped more than three feet of rain on Guatemala and El Salvador over the weekend, causing rivers to burst their banks and hills to collapse into floods of slurry. The sinkhole, a nearly perfect circular shaft wider than a street intersection, appeared soon after the storm stopped lashing the capital. So far, only one person -- a local security guard -- is thought to have died when the ground gave way. However, according to La Hora, authorities have not yet confirmed any fatalities. " Continued at: http://www.aolnews.com/world/article...-city/19498396  http://www.flickr.com/photos/gobiernodeguatemala/ There are still many more photos of damage caused by TS Agatha at the government site at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gobiernodeguatemala/ More about this tragedy at: http://translate.google.com/translat...as/408769.html and http://translate.google.com/translat...urri%25F3.html
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FKA, Inc. transcribed by: Rick Iossi Last edited by ricki; 06-01-2010 at 09:58 PM. 
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#2
06-01-2010, 03:36 PM
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How could something like this happen? Some say it was related to a leaking storm sewer line. That is still a lot of material to impact. It may have been more gradual occurring over years. Looking at what happens in Central Florida, excessive ground water is pumped from the aquifer. This results in soils and rock bridging air voids in what previously was underwater and subject to lesser loads due to the presence of water. Fractures may occur that convey overlying soils into voids with rainwater runoff, even burst water lines.
 http://www.uwex.edu/wgnhs/sinkholes.htm Reportedly another sinkhole developed here three years ago, see below. That sink hole would add to the loss of material into the underlying void and weakening of the prism of soil. With Tropical Storm Agatha bringing torrential rains even more soils may have been washed into the void as well as adding to the weight of overlying soils. A dome topped cavity may develop in the soils overlying the weathered rock strata, which in time can fracture and collapse catastrophically. More photos:    From: http://howtogetridof.com/blog/2009/0...ing-holes.html and http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/new...-massive-s.asp and http://conway.rutgers.edu/~ccshan/wi...la_City_abyss/  http://www.dailycognition.com/index....ound-them.html  Previous sinkhole development in 2007. More at: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Broken_s...emala_sinkhole .
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FKA, Inc. transcribed by: Rick Iossi Last edited by ricki; 06-02-2010 at 05:45 AM.
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#3
06-01-2010, 06:35 PM
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Checkout this submerged version. It was perhaps formed in a similar fashion to the Guatemala sinkhole during a much deeper sea level. The sinkhole formed, sea level rose substantially inundating the sink resulting in the blue hole we see today. Can see some similarities.
  More at: http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=4260
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FKA, Inc. transcribed by: Rick Iossi Last edited by ricki; 06-02-2010 at 05:47 AM.
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