Mother Nature is awe-inspiring as well as frightening, and this teenage boy learned that first hand when he discovered a giant sinkhole in Turkey nearly falling in. The scary thing, this isn’t an isolated incident, sinkholes have been popping up more and more, and here’s why.
This 17-year-old boy says a sinkhole appeared out of nowhere, nearly claiming his life
When he was walking his grandfather’s property one night, in the Konya province of central Turkey, all seemed well and there was no indication of rare sinkhole forming.
But when he went back to the same area the next day, the sinkhole had formed and he nearly walked right into it. Luckily, the boy noticed the big hole and stopped just in time, if he hadn’t, the result would have been catastrophic for the young man.
The sinkhole is only 9 feet across, but a whopping 200 feet deep
The boy and his family were baffled by the rare occurrence, but these sinkholes are actually becoming less and less rare in the Konya province. In recent years, a number of sinkholes have been popping up in the small farming community.
While most of the sinkholes in Turkey aren’t that big, one of them was a massive 17,500-square-meter sinkhole that eroded to reveal ancient cave dwellings that would have likely never been found if the sinkhole had not formed.
It’s not just in Turkey, a gigantic sinkhole showed up in Mexico on Saturday, March 29th, 2021, and continues to grow
The sinkhole in the Santa María Zacatepec, Puebla state of Mexico, is already more than 190-feet in diameter, 60-feet deep, and is threatening to swallow a house that sits on its edge.
Onlookers in Puebla gather in awe to view the giant sinkhole, and experts have no way of telling when the phenomenon will stop growing. Hopefully, it will stop before it reaches the house that is already too close for comfort.
So what is causing these geological phenomenons?
One can’t help but wonder why? Why are these huge sinkholes popping up seemingly out of nowhere? If you guessed humans have something to do with it, you may be right.
Experts say sinkholes are all about the water in the ground, and scientists suspect that groundwater depletion plays a part in these sinkholes forming. This is caused by a mix of natural events, and modern agriculture operations as well as other man-made operations like mining.
Can experts predict when sinkholes will happen?
Sinkholes seem to be random occurrences, but they actually happen over long periods of time. According to the University Of Florida, things to watch out for when spotting sinkholes are:
- Structural cracks in floors or walls
- Muddy or cloudy well water
- Doors and windows that don’t close properly
- Slumping trees and fences on the property
- Wilting vegetation
- The formation of new small ponds
- A circular pattern of cracks in the sinking area
Think these sinkholes are big? One of the largest sinkhole in the world is in Xiaozhai Tiankeng, China, and measures over 2,000-feet deep
There are massive sinkholes all over the world but one of the biggest known sinkholes is in Xiaozhai Tiankeng. According to Wonder Mondo, the sinkhole measures over 2,000 feet deep, and 2,000 feet wide, and even grows a unique forest at the bottom of it.
Sinkholes are a miraculous and terrifying thing to see popping up, we’re just glad no one got seriously hurt when these latest two appeared out of thin air.
To see the latest sinkholes in Turkey and Mexico, just watch the video below!
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