2. What is a sinkhole?
Sinkhole
• A depression in the ground that has no
natural external surface drainage.
• A sinkhole is a hole in the ground that
forms when water dissolves surface rock.
• Sinkholes are formed when a landscape,
where carbonate rock sits underneath the
soil, is exposed to water.
3. What is a sinkhole?
• Water collects in the cracks called
joints and into the carbonate rock.
• As this happens the carbonate rock is
dissolved and is carried away, the
joints widen until the ground above
them becomes unstable and
collapses.
4. Sinkhole
There are two types of
sinkholes:
• Cover-collapsed sinkholes-
which develop quickly in a
matter of hours and cause
catastrophic damage.
• Cover-subsidence sinkholes-
which form slowly over time
with the ground gradually
subsiding or deflating.