Ker Than
for National Geographic News
Published June 1, 2010

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.
(See a Texas sinkhole picture.) Sinkholes are natural depressions that can form when water-saturated soil and other particles become too heavy and cause the roofs of existing voids in the soil to collapse. Another way sinkholes can form is if water enlarges a natural fracture in a limestone bedrock layer. As the crack gets bigger, the topsoil gently slumps, eventually leaving behind a sinkhole. It's unclear which mechanism is behind the 2010 Guatemala sinkhole, but in either case the final collapse can be sudden, Currens said.

2010 Guatemala Sinkhole Could Grow

A ruptured sewer line is thought to have caused the sinkhole that appeared in Guatemala City in 2007. The 2010 Guatemala sinkhole could have formed in a similar fashion, Currens said. A burst sanitary or storm sewer may have been slowly saturating the surrounding soil for a long time before tropical storm Agatha added to the inundation. "The tropical storm came along and would have dumped even more water in there, and that could have been the final trigger that precipitated the collapse," Currens said. Depending on the makeup of the subsurface layer, the Guatemala sinkhole "could eventually enlarge and take in more buildings," he said. Typically, officials fill in sinkholes with large rocks and other debris. But the 2010 Guatemala sinkhole "is so huge that it's going to take a lot of fill material to fill it," Currens said. "I don't know what they're going to do."

 

Anyone else think that pic looks photo-shopped. The hole seems too perfect in shape and depth. Same with the sides of the walls. Just too perfect. Not saying it is PS'd, but it sure looks that way. Saw the pic yesterday on the web news and thought the same when I saw it.

 

I thought the same thing. Looks drilled, almost. Can't imagine any cave in being a perfect circle, straigt down.

 

its definitely photochopped. there is another pic of the "same" hole and it looks nothing like that. all the buildings around it are completely different.

 

pretty crazy stuff

 

It may not be PS'd. Found these.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1589037/

http://www.masterzico.com/2010/06/gu...mala-hole.html

The second one looks like it was taken before it got "real" big.

 

That not chopped, there are several pictures and videos of it... It is over 300 feet deep!

 

The Klingons did it! Beam me up Scotty, there's no intelligent life here!

 

I've been wondering how deep it is. This is the first time I've seen the depth mentioned. Unreal, that it is such a perfect circle.

 

While I'm still skeptical (the hole looks too perfect) a quick Google search supports the veracity of the news accounts of the sinkhole. Time will tell.

 

I've found a bigger sink hole in the USA.
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More like........biggest bum hole in the USA.

 

sink holes creep the **** out of me

 

you're looking at the 2007 sinkhole

vid of the 2010 sinkhole- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoOHmdL2I9Y&NR=1

 

If 30 stories, that would be about 300+ feet. That's one deep hole, although I have seen shows where they explored other sink holes out in the jungles that were deeper.