Ten Worlds Largest Sinkholes - The Door to Hell

Sinkhole??? It is just what it sounds like, a natural depression or hole in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water. The size and depth of some sinkholes is astounding, from several hundred meters deep to over 100 km across. The giant sinkholes of Earth belong to the most impressive natural landmarks. They can form slowly or instantly, making them all the more intimidating. Here are 10 of the most amazing sinkholes across the world.

Berezniki Sinkhole

The expanding sinkhole first appeared in 1986 near the town of Berezniki, Russia, when a nearby potash mine flooded and began collapsing. It now threatens to swallow the only rail line and support buildings in the area. The sinkhole is about 80 meters (m) long, 40 m wide and 200 m deep. This hole may not be the biggest or deepest, but is globally important because 10% of the world output of potash comes from this area, and the sinkhole threatens production from this critical source.



Bimmah Sinkhole

Making the most of one of nature's great oddities, the residents of Bimmah, Oman turned this sinkhole into a tourist trap. (Well actually, a swim park.)



Blue Hole in Belize

About 97 meters from Belize City, there is a perfectly circular 305 meters across and 123 meters wide deep “Blue Hole.” The hole, part of the Lighthouse Reef system, was once an opening to a cave system during the Ice Age - it is now a magnet for extreme divers.



Guatemala Sinkhole, 2007

A giant sinkhole that swallowed several homes is seen in Guatemala City Feb. 23, 2007. At least three people have been confirmed missing, officials said.



Guatemala Sinkhole, 2010

A sinkhole caused caused by tropical storm Agatha at dowtown of Guatemala City on Sunday, May 30, 2010. Torrential rains brought by the first tropical storm of the 2010.



Mount Gambier

Mount Gambier, the second largest city in South Australia, is defined by many natural features, including a massive network of volcanoes and craters, which form blue lakes filled with artesian water and several large sinkholes. water-filled caves and sinkholes which attract cave divers from around the globe, and such places as Ewens Ponds, Piccaninnie Ponds, Tantanoola Caves, Umpherston Sinkhole, Cave Gardens and Engelbrecht Cave are popular destinations f0r tourists wishing to see and/or play in underwater sinkhole caves.



Neversink Pit

Neversink Pit, a wet limestone sinkhole in Alabama seen above in 1998, is about 15 meters deep and houses a rare species of fern. The sinkhole was bought in the 1990s by a group of cavers to preserve it for future generations.



The Devil's Sinkhole

The 400-foot deep Devil's Sinkhole in Texas was first discovered by Anglo settlers in 1867. Today, as a registered National Natural Landmark, the area is protected area by the state and is a well recognized tourism destination, as well as the summer home to as many as four million Mexican Free-tailed Bats. Apparently the bats put on quite a show in the evenings when they leave the cave to forage, and tourists go for this show (Evening Bat Tours) as much as for the wonder of the sink hole itself.



The Ik-Kil Cenote

Swimmers float in the saphirre waters of the Ik-Kil cenote. The cenote locates in the eco-archeological Park Ik Kil, just 3 km. from Chichén Itzá and Pisté in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.. Called the “Sacred Blue Cenote,” it is a perfectly round well-type cenote with exuberant vegetation and waterfalls. Cenote means “natural well” in Spanish.



The Winter Park Sinkhole

In May 1981, during a period of record-low water levels in Florida's limestone aquifer, a massive sinkhole opened up underneath the city's public swimming pool, which is near the corner of Denning Drive and Fairbanks Avenue. In a single day the hole widened to 98 meters and to a depth of 27 meters, destroying an import car dealership, a public pool, and large portions of Denning Drive. In addition, the sinkhole "ate" an entire two-story home.

 

5 Reasons Why The World Will Not End In 2012!

Will the world end in 2012? Well let’s break down 5 possible reasons why 2012 will not be the end of the World as we know it. Hold on to your seats as you’re taken through a scientific journey into 2012.

Remember the Y2K scare? Everyone and their momma’s were bracing for a worldwide computer crash that could’ve set off nuclear missiles, ending life on earth, but nothing happened. Why? Because of adequate planning and analysis of the situation?
NASA scientists have studied Earth long enough to know this. The world will not end on Dec. 21, 2012 despite what the Mayan calendar shows us.
Here’s 5 reasons why:

1. Just like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed as well and the science of the end of the Earth has been studied thoroughly. So when asked if the Mayan calendar is true, here’s what scientists at NASA have to say:
“Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then, just as your calendar begins again on January 1, another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.”

2. When asked could some kind of phenomena occur where planets align in a way that could impact Earth, Nasa says no, not in the next few decades anyway.
“There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.”

3. Will Planet X or Eris approach the Earth and threaten our planet with destruction?
“Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.”

4. When asked if the Earth is in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012? It is unlikely.
“The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.”

5. Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012? Uhh uhh.
“Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.
Convinced yet?
NASA says, “Where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.”

1. There you have it. Five reasons why the world will not end in 2012!