Sinkholes
The sinkhole appeared Wednesday after a Terre Haute Fire Department ladder truck drove over the pavement on Ohio Street at the intersection of Fourth Street.
Our partners at the Tribune-Star report firefighters heard the collapse and stopped to check out the cause of the noise.
Terre Haute Police sent a notice via social media indicating the intersection was closed.
Seth Linde says he and his wife discovered a massive sinkhole in his backyard on Saturday. His home is in the Rosewood Village community and his home was built in the Fall of 2016.
Linde says his wife nearly fell into the growing sinkhole.
They called the non-emergency dispatch number and responding emergency officials were concerned by the size of the hole.
"Everybody's afraid to even put any tools down there. I estimated it to be about 15 feet deep," said Linde.
Officials responded to the area and deemed both structures unsafe, but no other homes are threatened.
No one was inside either house when the 20-foot deep, 40-foot wide hole formed.
The families did not accept Red Cross assistance and are instead making other arrangements.
One of the biggest formations is located only about four kilometers from a gas pipeline leading from the huge Bovanenkovo field, a project operated by Gazprom. This formation is now growing and has reached a diameter of more than 60 meter and a depth of about 200 meters.
The first sinkholes were discovered in 2014 and since then at least ten big-size holes have been mapped. In addition, there are indications that several more major holes are in the making. Researchers told RIA Novosti that they on the two Arctic peninsulas have discovered several small hills which they believe could be «gas bubbles» ready to burst.
The incident is thought to have occurred after the pipes under the water sprinkler system apparently started leaking.
The affected pitch, in Cuajimalpa de Morelos, Mexico, now sports a gigantic sinkhole, well over six metres deep.
Fortunately, no one was playing on the field at the time when the hole first appeared - with no injuries as yet reported.
An unpredictable sinkhole in a Nova Scotia park that has already swallowed up large trees and some picnic tables is now at least 38 metres in diameter.
The crater began as a small indentation in Oxford and suddenly opened up Aug. 20 when the ground under it collapsed. It grew another three metres overnight Wednesday.
Amy Tizzard, a geologist with the Nova Scotia Department of Energy and Mines, said it's too early to tell how big the sinkhole will get.

A large sinkhole was detected early Friday in Geumcheon-gu, southern Seoul, forcing 200 nearby residents to evacuate.
According to fire authorities, land is collapsing in a section 30 meters wide, 10 meters long with a depth of six meters in Geumcheon-gu, southwestern Seoul. Next to the apartment complex is a construction site.
Two hundred residents at the two apartment buildings near the site have been evacuated, while two people were escorted to the hospital citing psychological trauma.
"There was a large collapse sound last night," said Kim, a 58-year-old apartment resident. "I couldn't sleep and came outside and found the ground has collapsed."
The sinkhole occurred next to a construction site for a 30-story studio apartment. However, no workers were on site at the time.
Despite much higher-than-normal amounts of rain in early 2017, the large agricultural and metropolitan communities that rely on groundwater in central California experienced only a short respite from an ongoing drought. When the rain stopped, drought conditions returned and the ground has continued to sink, according to researchers.
"With the heavy storms in early 2017, Californians were hopeful that the drought was over," said Kyle Murray, a Cornell doctoral candidate in the field of geophysics. "There was a pause in land subsidence over a large area, and even uplift of the land in some areas. But by early summer the subsidence continued at a similar rate we observed during the drought."
Comment: Sinkholes and fissures have become a worldwide phenomenon of late, so is it just consumption of water that has lead to California's drought and subsidence - considering 2017 had higher than average rainfalls - or is there more happening below ground that the scientists have yet to discover?
- Sinkholes: The groundbreaking truth
- UK: Devon village rising 2cm a year, London suburb sinking, and scientists have no idea why
- 2 French rivers disappear - Geologists suspect through cracks in the ground
- 'Sinking' Pacific Island is actually growing
- Venice water levels lowest since records began - and it's sinking (PHOTOS)
- GARGANTUAN sinkhole swallows several cars and building is evacuated in Rome (VIDEO)
- Monster cracks appear in the ground after landslide and heavy rains destroy over 100 buildings in Cusco, Peru (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Before and after picture of the lagoon in Mexico. Several sinkholes fissured in the bottom of Laguna Chakabacan in Mexico.
According local reports, a loud roar was heard on Sunday. Just after, the lagoon started to drain underground. By Wednesday morning almost 3/4 of the lagoon had dried up. And this is not the first time that such a surprising and unexpected phenomenon has occurred in the area.
Yesterday, the authorities of the Environmental Protection Agency (PPA), Institute of Biodiversity and Natural Protected Areas in Quintana Roo (Ibanqroo), National Forestry Commission (Conafor), National Water Commission (Conagua), Federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa), Cocodrilia and ejido authorities, have started investigating the cause of the problem, pictured below: Sinkholes! Large sinkholes!
Comment: The explanation that this is solely due to karst rock below doesn't take into account the other notable geological anomalies, that include gaping fissures, monster sinkholes and devastating landslides, which are occurring all over the world and with a worrying regularity. For more information, see: Sinkholes: The groundbreaking truth
See also:
- Massive sinkhole appears in farmers field in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
- Following record rainfall, huge rift opens opens up on farm in Rotorua, New Zealand
- Huge crack appears in rock wall in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming - Area not far from Yellowstone
- GARGANTUAN sinkhole swallows several cars and building is evacuated in Rome (VIDEO)
- "Earth splits in two" - Huge fissures appears in the ground in Saudi Arabia (VIDEO)
- Huge fissures tear through homes and infrastructure after heavy rains in Uganda
- 8 dead as massive sinkhole swallows eight-lane road in Foshan, China (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
- Monster cracks appear in the ground after landslide and heavy rains destroy over 100 buildings in Cusco, Peru (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
- Sinkhole appears on beach in French Riviera (PHOTOS)
- UK: 'Very unusual' sinkhole on train tracks after Storm Eleanor, 'ground shifting' say engineers

Mark Rushton stands near a large sinkhole that developed in the Oxford Lions Park late Monday evening. There had been a small sink hole there, but it got dramatically bigger last night and it estimated to be 40 to 50 feet wide and 30 or more feet deep with rushing water at the bottom.
Mark Rushton was playing catch with his son in the park while his wife participated in a yoga class inside the Lions Centre when he heard a whump and felt the ground vibrate.
"I had just dropped my wife off for her yoga class and my son was going to go for a swim in the lake but it was too chilly so we decided to throw the ball around," Rushton said. "I just heard the rush of water and didn't think too much of it and then I felt the thump so I went to investigate."
Rushton said a part of the park was already cordoned off, but the hole had gotten much wider and a lot deeper. He estimated it was 30 to 40 feet wide in one place and more than 30 feet deep.











Comment: See also: Giant sinkhole opens up in Oxford, Nova Scotia