Sinkholes

[soulsurvivor]

I think I'm curious if any landowners have noticed a recent increase in the number of sinkholes on your property and if so, how do you deal with these?

We have less than 2 acres that borders large farms on one side and a creek on another side. We've been noticing that we're having some ground collapse in the back hilly part of our lot. It's not yet a great concern, but certainly not something we can keep overlooking. All of the front of our small property is tiled so that the water drains off into the creek, but this tiling didn't include the back hill. Would we need to consider getting more drainage installed on this section?

Two of the farms that border us have large sinkholes at the front of their property, so it's a common land feature here. None of these sinkholes are big enough to bury cars into, but as neighbors, we have an open invitation from the landowners to put wood debris, trees and fill dirt in these sinkholes.

What are your experiences with sinkholes?

[Beeman]

We've got plenty of them, ground has limestone under it. Rainy years seem to sink them a little more.

[o&itw]

Sinkholes are usually due to water running in an underground stream below the surface. Often here in Missouri, it is a "leak" into a cave system. You may have caves running below your land, or it may simply be water seeping from one valley to another. If a hole forms into the hard layer of rock above the undeground stream, then water starts washing into the hole and taking soil particles with it... the larger the sinkhole gets the more wate will drain down though it as oppsed to draining in the normal way down the slope. The more water that drains thgough it the more soil etc. it takes and the larger the sinkhole gets.

[Ozarkquilter46]

some showed up next to our high school building two years ago. Now most of the kids are in trailer houses for there classes and a new high school is almost finished being built across the road in what use to be the socker field. Not all the high school is going to be a loss but about 1/3 of it will be.

[Stephen in SOKY]

You've got to love living in a region known for its karst topography! I've literally had sinkholes break out under tractor tires, get the tractor out, look down and see the sod that fell in. My river bottom doesn't flood by the river escaping its banks, the water boils up out of a large sinkhole inundating a small portion routinely. The exceptionally dry year we had recently excasurbated the problem. Then a few small tremor/earthquakes really let things fall out. I lost 2 ponds to this combination of natural acts & I know of 4 more nearby that failed also.

[MushCreek]

We have lots of them in FL, especially lately. During the freeze, the farmers pumped a huge amount of water out of the aquifer to protect their crops, and sinkholes opened up all over. Houses were swallowed up, and roads were closed.

[ChristieAcres]

None that I have found on our property, but the topography would likely prevent that except for a flat area that is downhill on the back part of our property. Our water level table is fairly high, too. Our property is off of the top of a tall hill, downhill on the East side of it, with topography that drains fairly well. In the Winter, we have a small creek back in the forest, on that flat area. While doing some dirt work, we have found some rather large boulders. I had the equipment operator "save them" for a future water feature DH wants to build.

Sorry to hear about the sinkhole problems. An earthquake could cause them anywhere, I expect, even here. We are just a few hundred feet above sea level.

[Pink_Carnation]

There has been a report of more problems with these in general since we are taking out so much ground water. Less water means less pressure to support the land above it. They can also happen where there were mines.

[ronbre]

evidently not common in Michigan

[big rockpile]

When I was a Kid here in Missouri for 17 years and who knows how many years before that we had a sinkhole by one of our fields.We put Cars,Refridgerators,Rocks off the field everything in that hole.

Then few years ago I was watching the News,showed people pulling everthing out of that hole.

big rockpile

[copperkid3]

Originally Posted by ronbre

evidently not common in Michigan

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Not common in MOST of the state, but we do have them. Check this:

YouTube

And this from wikipedia:

Many sinkholes are found in Northern Michigan. These are prominent in Alpena County in Northeast Michigan. In Lachine, Michigan there are five sinkholes that are found to be very deep , and within two miles of each other. Alpena's visitor information cites their sinkholes as an attraction for visitors to the area. In August 1998 a 16 year old Alpena boy survived a 200+ ft fall in an open sinkhole 3/4 a mile off of Leer road in Lachine, Michigan (The Alpena News 8-21-1998). A majority of sinkholes in Alpena are also found underwater. Many divers explore these on a regular basis.

[rambler]

Natural sinkholes are not common right around me.

What does happen is a field tile gets broken, and it creates a sinkhole about 3 feet deep & up to as wide, as the dirt washes down the tile line.

Something to keep in mind if you are in farm country & one appears for no reason.

--->Paul

Florida has lots of sinkholes and that's a fact. Wet years and the ends of long droughty periods we always get a new crop of them.

Be very careful what you throw down a sinkhole because chances are very good it's connected with the strata that your well is connected to. What goes down the hole may come back up your well pipe...

.....Alan.

[MattPA]

In PA the sinkholes are usually caused by quarries nearby. They dig deep and all the underground water flows towards and into the quarries pulling sediment along with it. Before you know it you've got sink holes. I noticed quite a few abandoned/condemned farms around York,PA that clearly have large sink holes big enough to swallow cars/trucks and even a home in their fields. In Columbia, South America they had one swallow several city blocks.