Massive Sinkhole Appears in County Durham

[PersianPaladin]

If this is to do with old mining ventures, then how many more of these could plausibly appear in the next few years?

 

 

 

A 100ft sinkhole has appeared yards from a farmer's house in County Durham, north-east England.

The hole was discovered on Thursday morning and is so deep that the bottom cannot be seen at one end.

The chasm continues to grow and has prompted fears of a further collapse when forecasted heavy rains arrive.

John Hensby, 71, said the hole near his home could be linked to 19^th-century iron or lead mining in the area, although he has not been able to find evidence of a shaft that may have collapsed.

"It is astonishing - if you could have heard the bangs, crashes and rumbles when it first happened you would understand how terrifying it was," he told The Daily Mail.

"My partner Sam had been walking one of our dogs when she found it on our land around 80 metres away from our house.

"The land is surrounded by a sheep farm and there are two or three around at the moment. If a sheep was to fall down the hole then that would be the end of it. It would be the same for our two dogs. You wouldn't be able to get to them or even see them."

Hensby said small holes have appeared in the area from time-to-time, but none as large as the current sinkhole have ever been seen before.

"Some council experts came to inspect the hole yesterday, but we are not sure what can be done," he added. "We are crossing our fingers it doesn't get much bigger, but it is approaching a public footpath now."

Last week, a giant mile-long crack in the ground appeared in a rural part of northern Mexico, prompting fears of an earthquake in the area.

Rafael Pacheco Rodríguez, of the University of Sonora, said the eight-metre deep and five-metre wide crack could be the result of seismic activity or underground streams.

 

 

 

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/massive-sinkhole-appears-county-durham-england-133045698.html

[NL]

If the proposed 'fracking' goes ahead i fear this will lead to greater chances of these 'sinkholes' occuring.

[Mapantz]

99% of sinkholes occur from rain dissolving soft rock- a natural process.

[Daniel*]

Sinkholes are quite fasinatings, but they do pose a danger to life. I would say earthquake areas are more prone to sinkholes due to the kinetic energy swaying the ground back and forth - when water seeps through the ground, then freezes which causes it to expand. An also potential problem in this country, which is why the big cliff falls happen.. after a wet day and a chilly night.

[knocker]

There seems to be two threads on this.

 

the collapse seems to be in the region of the ironstone flats associated with western end of Sedling Vein! The couple on whose land it is are well known to the mine exploring community and everybody using the public footpath on their land as complete a******es.