http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-26206764 another large sink hole appears. This phenomena seems to increasing. Is it weather related ?
Can be. Depends what type they are how the weather effects them. Natural ones can occur because of the weight of water soaked land and rock which overlies natural limestone, which can be effectively like honeycomb. These can be impossible to identify until they collapse. Man made ones tend to be collapsed mines or pits. Some are known about. Some not. In mining areas the holes tend to appear as a result of pit prop collapse. This can be caused by a number of weather related issues. Freezing and thawing can finish off a rotted prop. As can both saturation and completely drying out in a drought. These conditions tend to predominate in winter. The amount of rain we've had recently is increasing the chances of both types occurring more frequently.
Typical - the Yanks have to do it big-time.... http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/13/watch-sinkhole-gobbles-up-8-vintage-corvettes-at-kentucky-museum/
Whoops. That was unfortunate. Thing is this will happen to all soluble rock over time. That was just the inevitable result of the acidic action of rainwater over thousands of years. A pity they put 8 priceless Corvettes underneath it. But it illustrates the point well that they cannot be predicted.
For that one, 'don't chew' would be better IMHO, at least it's not just saying the same thing twice and applying it to very different phenomenons.
and another..... http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-02-18/huge-crack-through-house-after-sinkhole-opens/
Hi Ernie. Can knowing the geology of an area increase the chances of knowing whether sink holes are more likely ? Whilst on that point hows the geology of East Yorkshire stand up ?
Some of the recent sinkholes we have had around Brisbane seem to have been blamed in leaking water pipes washing away the soil or whatever from around it, eventually just giving way.
Something I didn't know was that Ripon is the sinkhole capital of Britain according to Dr.Tony Cooper of the British Geological Survey because of the gypsum in the area. He says that there is a band of gypsum that runs from Darlington to Doncaster. Dr.Cooper says that because the chalk in Yorkshire has been covered by glaciers several times it means that most of the surface cavities have long been worn away making it more resilient to sinkholes than the softer purer chalk of the South East.
It depends on what causes the sinkhole. If it's manmade then simply it could be anywhere were someone has previously dug a hole, for whatever reason. Mining, storage, water, sewerage, housing, communication, travel, escape are all possible reasons for us to go subterranean. The country has millions of holes in it. We act like moles a lot! East Yorkshire is not prone to natural sinkholes. Firstly the Wolds, although made of porous, soluble chalk hasn't developed caves as such probably due to fairly low rainfall, steepness of the hills leading to rapid runoff, Yorkshire chalk being much harder than the soft southern stuff (I'm not making this up!), and chalk being so full of holes anyway that water effectively passes through it like a sponge. Secondly, the Holderness plain is a geological baby. It was only formed during the last ice age by boulder clay deposition. It's a bit like buttercream icing on a cake. It's a clay deposit which filled in the surface it laid on. It's very soft which is why coastal erosion is so fast, but its not had time for any significant subterranean hydrological erosion.
