Sinkholes
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Drone film gives terrifying glimpse of growing sinkhole in northeast Russia


RT
Wed, 16 Sep 2015 13:17 UTC
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Ruptly
Northeast Russia's apocalyptic sinkhole that has swallowed up everything above it keeps growing bigger. A RUPTLY drone has provided a better picture of the scale of damage.

The city of Solikamsk was first hit by the disaster in November 2014. Then, it was a modest 30 meters (98 feet) wide in diameter. But it's since grown to a whopping 125 meters, causing increasing damage to its rural surroundings.

And the sinkhole shows no sign of a slowing appetite, as the collapsing soil keeps sucking up nearby houses. It is estimated to be about 75 meters deep, and can already be seen from space.

It's thought the gaping hole emerged following underground floods at Solikamsk-2's mine, owned by the world's number one potash producer, Uralkali.

The crater's origin is different from the natural phenomenon that is behind the craters in northern regions of Siberia, which have recently stunned scientists. Craters in permafrost regions are linked to the process of erosion and gas hydrates in the soil, which leads to underground explosions.

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Truck falls into sinkhole in Brooklyn, New York


abc7ny.com
Tue, 15 Sep 2015 13:00 UTC
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The incident near a shopping center at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and East 32nd Street.
A private sanitation truck is sinking into an elevated parking deck in Flatbush.

The truck began sinking into the structure in the 1600 block of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn just after 3 a.m. Tuesday.

The driver was able to get out of the truck as two sections of the parking deck collapsed under the vehicle.

Police closed the parking lot, where there is a strip mall nearby, to evaluate its stability.

A freight line maintained by the Long Island Rail Road that runs under the structure was halted.

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Missing Tennessee woman found in car stuck in sinkhole

Robert Sorrell
heraldcourier.com
Sun, 13 Sep 2015 15:39 UTC
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© Andre Teague/Bristol Herald CourierPeople gather after news of a deceased driver was found in their car inside a sinkhole along Pleasant Grove Rd. in Bluff City broke Friday evening.
The search for a missing woman ended Friday when her body was found in a car that was stuck in a sinkhole in Bluff City, just a short distance from her home.

Nancy Echevarria, 66, was last seen late Wednesday afternoon driving a blue Chevrolet Lumina, which was found in the sinkhole on property in the 1400 block of Pleasant Grove Road, according to Sullivan County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Leslie Earhart.

"The residents could not see the vehicle while standing on their porch," Earhart said. "It's our understanding that one of the residents was walking his dog in the yard and noticed the sun glistening off something metal in the sinkhole. When he went over to check it out, that's when he found the vehicle."

The resident called 911 around 4:30 p.m. and police and rescue crews responded.

"Officers responded and upon arrival, they found a blue Chevrolet Lumina in the sinkhole with one person deceased," Earhart said.

Echevarria's son, Maylo Echevarria, said his mother dropped him off at a mechanic's garage in Bluff City and was supposed to drive to her home in the 900 block of Pleasant Grove Road, but she never arrived.

Police believe she was driving down Pleasant Grove when she appeared to have crashed off the roadway.

The sinkhole was located about 150-200 feet off the roadway and passing drivers would not have been able to see it.
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Driver cheats death after his car is swallowed by a six foot deep sinkhole in Lanzhou, China

Tracy You
Daily Mail, UK
Fri, 11 Sep 2015 12:07 UTC
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Photos taken at the scene show Mr Wang's car is stranded in a sinkhole measuring about six feet deep
A Chinese driver narrowly escaped death when a sinkhole opened up on a flooded street this week.

The motorist was driving in Lanzhou city, north-western China, in the early hours of September 10 when he felt the ground was shaking.

He managed to escape from the passenger's side before the front of the car was submerged in water, reported the People's Daily Online.
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Five-metre-deep sinkhole almost swallows lorry, worker rescued, Hong Kong


Coconuts Hong Kong
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 16:23 UTC
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Yesterday at 2pm a large five-metre-deep and five-metre-wide pothole suddenly appeared under a lorry as it drove down Sunny Street in Ngau Tau Kok.

The road collapsed under the cab of the lorry, which was carrying Watson water jugs, but thankfully the driver and three passengers were able to climb out onto terra firma, reports Apple Daily.

A worker arrived on the scene to figure out how to tow the truck out of the hole, but unfortunately as he stood peering over the edge of the water-filled sinkhole, it eroded further, causing him to fall in.

The 65-year-old swam to the edge of the hole and was able to tread water until he was rescued by other workers. He was thankfully unharmed.

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Huge sinkhole opens up in Sturgeon Creek, Canada


Winnipeg Sun
Mon, 07 Sep 2015 14:57 UTC
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Brent Mackie stands by a large sinkhole open on Ness Avenue at Sturgeon Creek on Monday Sept. 07, 2015. The sinkhole opened during heavy rains last Friday.
Forgive neighbours in the area if they had a sinking feeling over the Labour Day Weekend.

Thanks to Friday's storm, a sinkhole on Ness Avenue near Sturgeon Creek expanded so much that it could have sucked in vehicles in one gulp.

"I heard a loud boom and the sinkhole that was already there quadrupled in size," said Brent Mackie, who lives on Alcott Street. "It's about 35-40 feet long, 15 feet wide and 15 feet deep.

"It's about 35 yards from my front door. It's like I've got a swimming pool in my front yard."

The original sinkhole, which was formed during the last monsoon about three weeks ago, was about 10 feet long, 12 feet wide and 10 feet deep, Mackie said.

"Holy smokes! It's turned into a psycho-sinkhole," said Barny Haines, who lives on Kirby Drive. "It's serious and the reality is, uncovered (like) it was when it first happened, it was fortunate that a car didn't go into it."
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Large sinkhole stops traffic at Texas wildlife refuge


kxii.com
Sat, 05 Sep 2015 22:43 UTC
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© Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge
A large sinkhole is stopping traffic through parts of the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge.

The increased rainfall caused Lake Texoma to spill over into parts of the refuge. Now, that water is receding workers have noticed a large sinkhole has formed.

The sinkhole is on Wildlife drive. Crews have filled in the hole but the road remains blocked off. Refuge Volunteers said filling the hole is only a temporary measure until they're able to find what caused the hole

"Perhaps the pipes for the managed wetlands has collapsed," refuge volunteer, Randy Norris said."Another theory is it could have been associated with the beaver dam here, or just a geological subsidence. They're not entirely sure just yet."

The part of the Wildlife Road that's block off is still accessible by taking another route.

The refuge is open Sunday but will be closed Monday, for Labor Day.
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Massive sinkhole opens up in Philadelphia


6abc.com
Fri, 04 Sep 2015 11:59 UTC
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A water main break caused a large sinkhole to open up on a street in Northeast Philadelphia.

It happened early Friday morning on Chalfont Drive near Waldemire Drive.

Images from Chopper 6 HD over the scene showed about half of the street had collapsed into a large hole.

Traffic cones, saw horses and police tape were set up around the sinkhole to prevent motorists and pedestrians from getting too close.

There are sixty people without water.

So far, no word on when repairs will be complete.


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Info

CT scan of Earth links deep mantle plumes with volcanic hotspots

Robert Sanders
UC Berkeley
Wed, 02 Sep 2015 23:21 UTC
University of California, Berkeley, seismologists have produced for the first time a sharp, three-dimensional scan of Earth's interior that conclusively connects plumes of hot rock rising through the mantle with surface hotspots that generate volcanic island chains like Hawaii, Samoa and Iceland.

Essentially a computed tomography, or CT scan, of Earth's interior, the picture emerged from a supercomputer simulation at the Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.


While medical CTs employ X-rays to probe the body, the scientists mapped mantle plumes by analyzing the paths of seismic waves bouncing around Earth's interior after 273 strong earthquakes that shook the globe over the past 20 years.

Previous attempts to image mantle plumes have detected pockets of hot rock rising in areas where plumes have been proposed, but it was unclear whether they were connected to volcanic hotspots at the surface or the roots of the plumes at the core mantle boundary 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) below the surface.
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Bizarro Earth

Sliding into the abyss: Giant sinkhole in Russian Urals keeps growing


Sputnik
Thu, 03 Sep 2015 13:21 UTC
Russia sinkhole
© ok.ru/solikams
A sinkhole near one of the mines in Russia's Ural Mountains has grown in size at least fivefold since it was first reported last November; the huge abyss keeps swallowing up nearby summer cottages and shows no signs that it will stop getting bigger.

A huge sinkhole, in the very middle of a seasonal cottage community and near Solikamsk-2, a mine operated by Russia's biggest potash fertilizer producer UralkalI, keeps growing in size.

It is gradually widening, and swallowing in more nearby holiday homes as the earth keeps collapsing.
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