Sinkholes
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Giant sinkhole in Rome swallows two cars

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Two parked cars were swallowed by a large sinkhole - 10 metres deep and 10 metres wide - which opened up in the Quadraro district of Rome in the early hours of Thursday.

Police and firefighters closed off the street, Via Sestio Menas, after the chasm opened up at around 01.00. There was nobody injured in the incident.

The vehicles, a Dacia and a Renault, were subsequently removed and the area remained cordoned off on Thursday morning.

It is far from the first time that such an event has occurred in Rome, with the city experiencing a sharp rise in the number of sinkholes in recent years according to the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research.


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Sinkhole swallows customer after floor collapses in shopping mall in China on March 23

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A shocking incident unfolded in Zhenjiang, China, after a massive sinkhole opened up on the second floor of a shopping mall and swallowed a customer on March 23.

Chilling security camera footage captured the woman disappearing as the floor suddenly collapsed beneath her.

A worker on the floor below was also trapped by debris. Both suffered only minor injuries.


Attention

Large ingenous events, cosmic impacts and crises in the history of life

Impact
© Randall Carlson Newsletter - March 2024
Last month, in the February 2024 issue of the Kosmographia Newsletter I reported on new research correlating a series of large-scale igneous events which produced the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) and the Siberian Traps with mass extinction episodes. On February 8 another paper was published in the journal Global and Planetary Change which further supports correlations between mass extinction episodes with gigantic volcanic eruptions and catastrophic cosmic impacts. The lead author of the paper is Michael Rampino, who has for decades been in the forefront of researching catastrophic events in Earth history. I have been following his work since the early 1980s and hold him in high regard as a scientist who is willing to think outside established paradigms of Earth history. The abstract to the paper begins:

"We find that Large Igneous Province (LIP) volcanism, mostly continental flood basalts (CFBs), along with the largest extraterrestrial impacts show significant correlations with mass-extinction events in the Phanerozoic geologic record. The ages of the 6 major marine mass extinctions (≥ 40% extinction of genera) of the last 541 MY ̶ the end-Ordovician (~444 Ma), late Devonian (~ 372 Ma), end-Guadalupian (~259 Ma), end-Permian (~ 252 Ma), end-Triassic (~201 Ma), and end-Cretaceous (66 Ma) extinctions are significantly correlated with high-quality U — Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar ages of 6 continental flood basalts (CFBs) ̶ the Cape St. Mary's, Viluy, Emeishan, Siberian, CAMP, and the Deccan Basalts.

U — Pb zircon dating (Uranium-lead) is a widely used method for dating metamorphic rocks typically employing a thermal ionization mass spectrometer. Zircon is used because it includes uranium and thorium atoms in its crystalline structure when forming but rejects lead, so any lead found in a zircon crystal is radiogenic, meaning it results from radioactive decay. Argon dating can measure Argon isotopes from a single mineral grain. The ratio of Argon 40 to Argon 39 yields the age of the sample.

The extinctions listed above are considered to be major events in the history of life on Earth. A number of less severe extinctions have taken place, although these events are somewhat more difficult to discern in the geologic/palaeontologic record. Nevertheless, a correlation can be discerned between these extinctions and both volcanic eruptions and cosmic impact.

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Naples sinkhole swallows cars, people 'lucky to be alive'

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Two young men are "lucky to be alive" after the car they were traveling in was swallowed by a huge sinkhole that opened up early on Wednesday in a road in Naples's Vomero district.

The pair, who were returning from a party after a university exam, were saved by Army soldiers who happened to be stationed in the area as part of the Strade Sicure (Safe Streets) operation.

A parked car also fell into the sinkhole.

"It's a miracle we are alive.

It could have gone much, much worse," said Giulio Delle Donne, one of the two young men who is also a municipal councillor.


Cloud Lightning

2023: Destructive Storms and Sheets of Rain in the Netherlands

ligthouse sun halo
© Ilse KootkarThe lighthouse Kijkduin Light in Huisduinen, Netherlands, with a sun halo in the sky on March 6th, 2023.
2023 started with snowfall in eastern and southeastern parts of the Netherlands and ended with record high water levels due to record-breaking rainfall. The wettest year since measurements began also included other destructive weather events such as storms and tornadoes. Below are some highlights from extreme weather events in the Netherlands in 2023.

Comment: See also:


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Couple escapes from car after it plunges into sinkhole in Vancouver, Washington: 'Felt like the movies'

A scary moment took place for a couple when their car plunked into a sinkhole last week in Vancouver, Washington.
© Katlynn Ann BicknellA scary moment took place for a couple when their car plunked into a sinkhole last week in Vancouver, Washington.
A Washington couple experienced a scary situation early Saturday morning as their vehicle plunged into a sinkhole in a Vancouver intersection while they were on their way home, according to a city spokesperson.

Authorities responded to the intersection around 1:15 a.m. on Saturday after reports that a car had gone into a sinkhole.

Katlynn Bicknell and her boyfriend Kevin were out grabbing food and were on their way home when the car became stuck in a huge hole with lots of bubbling water surrounding it, the couple told KPTV.

Bicknell tried to open the door as she pushed against the rushing water.


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60-foot-deep sinkhole opens in front of Highland City home in Florida

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© Polk County Fire Rescue
According to Polk County Fire Rescue, an approximately 15 feet wide by 60 feet-deep sinkhole opened in front of a Polk County home on Saturday.

Officials say the sinkhole is on Royal Crest Drive in Highland City

Firefighters say the street is open, and the sinkhole does not pose an imminent threat to the county roadway.

According to authorities, PCFR will continue monitoring the situation over the coming days.


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Gaping sinkhole causes disruptions in Brooklyn, New York

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A sinkhole opened in the middle of the street in Brooklyn on Tuesday, causing disruptions for neighbors.

The sinkhole, measuring 25 feet by 15 feet wide and 20 feet deep, is on 68th Street in the Bay Ridge section.

It started out as a 10-foot sinkhole and grew throughout the day.

A spokesperson from the Department of Environmental Protection says a break in the sewer line caused the depression to form.


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Sinkhole near school in Charvil, UK, suffers further collapse

The land is owned by Wokingham Borough Council
© LEE CRIPPSThe land is owned by Wokingham Borough Council
A large sinkhole that opened up in a car park near a primary school has suffered a further collapse.

The sinkhole appeared in East Park Farm Car Park in the village of Charvil, Berkshire, on Monday.

Charvil Parish Council said it was working to keep the area safe but confirmed more ground had given way.

Workers have inspected the hole, and the rest of the car park will now be scanned to make sure there is no more deterioration beneath the surface.


Question

Is the jet stream changing?

Researchers at Mainz University are investigating the jet stream to assess how its decadal variations could affect the occurrence of weather extremes in Europe.
Jet Stream
© Georgios FragkoulidisWind velocity and streamlines at an altitude of about 10 kilometers above the Earth's surface on the onset of a Western Europe heat wave (23 August 2016).
Heavy precipitation, wind storms, heat waves — when severe weather events such as these occur they are frequently attributed to a wavy jet stream. The jet stream is a powerful air current in the upper troposphere that balances the pressure gradient and Coriolis forces. It is still not known whether the jet stream is really undergoing changes at decadal timescales and, if so, to what extent.

"There are various theories as to what we can expect from the jet stream in future. However, these are all based on highly idealized assumptions," said Dr. Georgios Fragkoulidis of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). "Although it is quite clear that carbon dioxide emissions make a direct contribution to the global mean temperature, changes in the atmospheric circulation are highly uncertain due to the chaotic processes that govern its evolution."