2010-06-03

Sinkhole Guatemala 2010

CNN

Tropical storm leaves at least 115 dead in Central America

(CNN) -- At least 115 people have died after a tropical storm battered Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador over the weekend, officials in those countries reported.

Guatemala was hit hardest, with at least 92 deaths, 54 people missing and 59 injured, emergency officials said. Nearly 112,000 people have been evacuated and more than 29,000 are living in temporary shelters, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said in an address to the nation late Sunday.

The devastation has been widespread throughout Guatemala with mudslides destroying homes and buildings and burying some victims. At least nine rivers have dramatically higher levels and 13 bridges have collapsed, the nation's emergency services said.

In the northern part of Guatemala City, the downpour created a giant sinkhole that swallowed up a space larger than the area of a street intersection. Residents told CNN that a three-story building and a house fell into the hole.




Sinkhole in Guatemala: Giant Could Get Even Bigger



A huge sinkhole in Guatemala City (map), Guatemala, crashed into being on Sunday, reportedly swallowing a three-story building—and echoing a similar, 2007 sinkhole in Guatemala.

The sinkhole has likely been weeks or even years in the making—floodwaters from tropical storm Agatha caused the sinkhole to finally collapse, scientists say.

The sinkhole appears to be about 60 feet (18 meters) wide and about 30 stories deep, said James Currens, a hydrogeologist at the University of Kentucky.










Sinkhole

A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the surface topography caused by karst processes - the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks[1]. Sinkholes may vary in size from less than 1 to 300 meters (3.3 to 980 ft) both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. They may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide.

USGS - science for a changing world

Areas prone to collapse sinkholes

The map below shows areas of the United States where certain rock types that are susceptible to dissolution in water occur. In these areas the formation of underground cavities can form and catastrophic sinkholes can happen. These rock types are evaporites (salt, gypsum, and anhydrite) and carbonates (limestone and dolomite). Evaporite rocks underlie about 35 to 40 percent of the United States, though in many areas they are buried at great depths.





Update 2010-06-04

Guatemala Sinkhole Created by Humans, Not Nature

30-story-deep chasm not a true sinkhole, but a "piping feature."

Human activity, not nature, was the likely cause of the gaping sinkhole that opened up in the streets of Guatemala City on Sunday, a geologist says.

A burst sewer pipe or storm drain probably hollowed out the underground cavity that allowed the chasm to form, according to Sam Bonis, a geologist at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, who is currently living in Guatemala City (map).




Sources
Tropical storm leaves at least 115 dead in Central America - CNN.com
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/31/honduras.storm.emergency/index.html
YouTube - Sinkhole Guatemala 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgizBIiIlQE
Sinkhole in Guatemala: Giant Could Get Even Bigger
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100601-sinkhole-in-guatemala-2010-world-science/
Pictures: Giant Sinkhole Pierces Guatemala
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/photogalleries/100601-sinkhole-in-guatemala-2010-pictures-world/#guatemala-city-sinkhole_21110_600x450.jpg
Sinkhole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinkhole
Sinkholes, from USGS Water Science for Schools
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthgwsinkholes.html

Related
AFP: Guatemala storm death toll rises to 40: officials
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jX4mWC3u-y-TK00-uc1AEZUrqn9Q?index=0&ned=us
The Gates of Hell Just Opened In Guatemala
http://gizmodo.com/5551916/the-gates-of-hell-just-opened-in-guatemala?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
Dot Shot: Sinkhole in Guatemala City - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/dot-shot-sinkhole-in-guatemala-city/
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