Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Sinkhole in Guatemala.




I was reading an article the other day concerning a sinkhole that appeared in the street in Guatemala city killing at least one person and swallowing up a three storey building.

Apparently it is 300ft deep and 66ft in diameter. Sinkholes are most common in limestone regions. Underground layers of limestone can be dissolved by groundwater or by seepage from above-ground streams. A crack in underground limestone is often the first step in the formation of a sinkhole. A sinkhole may also be caused by a dramatic event, such as the collapse of a cave roof.

In this case it has been suggested that this sinkhole is the result of rainwater saturating the ground after tropical storm Agatha although other sinkholes have appeared in this region in 2007 killing three people.

It is another example of the power of nature.

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