Natuur en milieu

Foto’s: de indrukwekkendste sinkholes ter wereld op een rijtje

Door Jeannette Kras
Dit weekend werden een caravan, auto en camper in Australië opgeslokt door een enorme sinkhole ter grootte van een voetbalveld. 140 mensen moesten worden geëvacueerd. Overal ter wereld komen deze zinkgaten voor. Meestal worden ze veroorzaakt door karst, het oplossen van kalksteen in water, maar de gaten kunnen ook ontstaan doordat zout oplost, waterleidingen springen of drainagetunnels of mijngangen instorten. Hieronder een aantal indrukwekkende plaatjes. 1. Rainbow Beach, Queensland, Australië A sinkhole about 450 feet long and 30 feet deep opened at the popular Inskip Point campsite in Queensland, instantly swallowing vehicles and prompting authorities to order an evacuation 2. Amsterdam A large hole has opened up in a road outside a major medical centre in Amsterdam. Caused by a burst waterpipe, the road collapse meant around 500 patients had to be evacuated from the hospital 3. Beijing, China Bystanders look at a car that has partially fallen into a small sinkhole along a street in Beijing, China. No one was hurt in the incident 4. Oeral, Rusland This huge sinkhole in the Perm region of the Urals in Russia is getting bigger and bigger. The hole appeared when a potash mine collapsed at the end of 2014. It now measures 122 metres by 125 metres and is believed to be more than 75 metres deep. 5. Groot-Brittannië Manchester sinkhole 6. Washington, Verenigde Staten Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) workers, and others, are seen at the scene of a car swallowed by a sinkhole that occurred after a water main break 7. Schotland Traigh Golf Course of a hole that has appeared on Traigh Golf Course, the golf course is facing a £16,000 repair bill. The 3m (11ft) deep by 7m (23ft) long sinkhole has been fenced off but the course remains open to members. 8. Zuid-China Truck in a sinkhole in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China 9. Guatemala In May 2010, a huge sinkhole measuring 66 feet (20 m) wide and 100 feet (30 m) deep suddenly opened up, swallowing a three-storey building and a house in Guatemala City. Authorities blamed heavy rains caused by tropical storm Agatha. 10. Kentucky, Verenigde Staten A National Corvette Museum handout photo shows the 40-foot sinkhole that opened up under the museum floor, swallowing eight Corvettes, including the historic 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette 11. Nieuw-Zeeland In December 2001, a house in Waihi, New Zealand, collapsed into a huge hole measuring 50 metres wide and 15 metres deep. A family of five, including three young children, escaped serious injury despite their home crashing into a chasm created by an old mine shaft collapsing in the middle of the night. 12. Duitsland An aerial photo shows a massive crater that appeared in a residential street in Schmalkalden, Germany, in November 2010 13. Turkmenistan A tourist peers into the Darvaza Gates Of Hell gas crater in the Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan. The eerie cavern has been on fire for more than 40 years. It was discovered in 1971 by Soviet geologists when the ground beneath their drilling rig suddenly collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of 70 metres (230 ft). As the huge crater was filled with potentially poisonous natural gas the decision was made to set it alight. Scientists expected it to burn itself out within a few days, but the fire is still as fierce as ever. 14. Sotsji, Rusland A man looks at a house that started leaning after a tunnel collapse in the Russian Black sea resort of Sochi. The house, unnocupied at the time, began leaning after a tunnel on a nearby road construction project collapsed.

Bron(nen):   The Telegraph