Beach holiday / 10.09.2023

The biggest hole in the ground. The most terrible big holes in the ground. Other holes in the ground

Since we already had it today, let’s continue it a little. Do you think what is in the photograph is real or drawn? Many of my friends already know the answer to this question, but I just came across this photo again and I once again decided to dot all the i’s and at the same time make a note about it in my blog.

Let's jump under the cut and answer all the questions...

Clickable 3880 px

Many on the Internet doubted that this was true. They tried to appeal to the very smooth edges of this hole, to the suspiciously regular circle, to the insufficiently regular transitions of the earth into the darkness of the depths, etc. But everything in the photographs was in reality.

A hole of almost perfect circular shape with a diameter of about 20 meters and 30 meters deep. It was formed in July 2010 in one of the districts of Guatemala City.

In the place where you see a huge crater, the bottom of which is not visible even from a helicopter, there once stood a three-story garment factory building.

The mysterious crater was cordoned off by police, and geologists were working on the site. Experts clearly cannot understand the cause of the funnel. It is worth noting that a little more than three years ago, literally two kilometers from this place, an almost similar “black hole” had already formed in the ground. However, one of the reasons could be tropical storm Agatha. Such floods and landslides have not been seen in this region for the last 60 years. The disaster destroyed roads and bridges, rivers overflowed their banks, and many areas were cut off from the outside world.

“I can tell you what was not the reason: it is not the fault of geology and it was not caused by an earthquake. That's all we know on this moment, and we will be forced to go inside,” said a geophysical engineer from the National Management Agency in emergency situations David Monterroso.

Meanwhile, scientists agree that the round shape of the funnel suggests the presence of a karst cavity underneath. While geologists are puzzling over the reasons for the appearance of the “crater,” many local residents, whose houses are located in close proximity to the “black hole,” are already trying to change their homes.

It is not clear why there is no footage of the study of this funnel on the Internet, well, it wouldn’t be interesting for anyone to go down there with a camera. Or at least lower a camera with a spotlight on a cable and photograph what is there at depth.

This is the same hurricane that could have caused this crater to appear.

In seven days, residents of Guatemala and neighboring Honduras and El Salvador had to deal with a volcanic eruption spewing tons of ash, a powerful tropical storm, floods and landslides, and a terrifying black hole that swallowed a small factory and an intersection in Guatemala City. The Pacaya volcano began spewing lava and rocks on Thursday, May 27, blanketing Guatemala in ash that forced the closure of the airport. One television reporter, who was at that moment near the volcano, died. Two days later, as Guatemalans were cleaning up the ashes, Tropical Storm Agatha hit the region, bringing with it floods and landslides that washed away bridges, filled villages with mud and caused a giant hole to form in the center of Guatemala's capital.

A woman stands in the mud after a landslide caused by Hurricane Agatha in Amatitlán's El Pedregal district on May 31. On Monday, stunned Hurricane Agatha victims and rescue workers began finding bodies in the mud. In total, according to the latest data, 179 people have died in Central America. (REUTERS/Daniel LeClair)

Lava flows from the Pacaya volcano, near the capital of Guatemala, on May 28. Pacaya began to erupt on Thursday, May 27, killing journalist Anibal Archila, who was reporting for local TV channel Noti7. (REUTERS/Daniel LeClair)

Cameraman Byron Sesaida gives his side of the story after he was rescued from the Pacaya volcano on May 27. Byron worked with journalist Anibal Archila, who died while filming a program about a volcanic eruption for the Noti7 television channel. (REUTERS/Daniel LeClair)

A man displays volcanic ash removed from his car May 27 in Villa Nueva, after powerful eruption Pacaya Volcano, 50 km south of Guatemala. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Villagers came out of their homes fearing further eruptions from the Pacaya volcano in Las Calderas, Guatemala. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Two men watch a huge wave on May 29 at the port of San Jose, 110 km south of Quatemala. The season's first tropical storm, named Agatha, hit the country, bringing with it heavy rainfall, causing landslides and flooding. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

People climb onto a bridge after part of it was washed away following Hurricane Agatha in Barberene on May 30. (REUTERS/Daniel LeClair)

An Amatitlán resident and Asus employee dumps dirt he removed from his home after the Mico River overflowed its banks on June 1. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A woman crosses a road flooded with muddy water after the Mico River overflows its banks in Amatitlan on June 11. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

People inspect a car destroyed by a landslide in the Palin region, Escuintla department, Guatemala. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Maria del Carmen de Ramirez watched as the crater was born. She was at home when the fatal downpour began - by the way, meteorologists claim that more than 30 centimeters of rain fell in 30 hours, and she barely managed to escape from her home. “I saw through the window how the garment factory next door had disappeared,” she says. “She just disappeared.” Maria del Carmen claims that it is simply a miracle that none of the factory workers were injured: work time ended exactly an hour before the storm. And the watchman, who is usually on duty at night, took the day off to visit relatives. “During the day, hundreds of students came to the factory to get their uniforms,” she says. “If the rain had started a few hours earlier, it would have turned into a big tragedy.”

Residents of the surrounding houses are still afraid to return. Those who have not left their homes live in constant fear that their house could in an instant end up at the bottom of a pit. “At night I wake up every ten minutes,” says one local resident. “I’m frightened by every rustle - it seems to me that it’s rain drumming on the roof.”

Experts were never able to determine the exact cause of the hole. Geologists say that the porous structure of the limestone - the main component of the soil in Ciudad Nueva - received rainwater year after year, gradually enlarging the holes. And the rain worked as a catalyst. The management of a local cement plant proposed mixing volcanic ash from the Pacaya volcano, which had erupted four days earlier, with cement and filling the crater with the resulting mass. Experts estimate that it will take 12 to 18 months to fill the well.

It should be noted that something similar has already happened in Guatemala. In February 2007, a similar failure arose in the same city, but 100 meters deep. The distance between the two failures is several kilometers. One can only imagine how the people living in this area of Guatemala feel.

By the way, that hole...

By the way, the Guatemalan sinkhole is far from the only one in the world. More than twenty years ago, a similar hole suddenly appeared in Winter Park in Florida - its depth exceeded 98 meters. In 1994, a huge well with smooth edges appeared in Mulberry, the same state of Florida, at the site of industrial waste dumping. In April of this year, ten craters appeared one after another in Chinese city Yongbin, Sichuan Province. The depth of the largest hole was 80 meters

There was room for creativity here for photoshoppers too!

Well, in general, if you are confused by an exactly round hole, then here are other similar, albeit not so huge, examples.

A beautiful crater on the highway near the capital of Venezuela, Caracas, December 1, 2010.

Outside the small town of Schmalkalden, in the German state of Thuringia, a huge crater suddenly formed. Locals We woke up in the middle of the night to the roar of car sirens. It turned out that a car had fallen into a hole 40 meters wide and 25 meters deep, and it was only by luck that no one was hurt.

Police and rescue services immediately arrived at the scene. who cordoned off a giant crater. Residents of nearby houses were urgently evacuated.

“The ground literally opened up under our feet at about three o’clock in the morning. If this had happened during the day, it is unlikely that casualties would have been avoided. We have already announced that until the causes of the natural disaster are fully clarified, people will have to temporarily leave the city. Local authorities are ready to provide them with shelter,” the police said. Bild writes about this.

A helicopter was brought in to survey the area, which, with the help of detailed photography, will allow us to determine the real size of the crater. According to preliminary data, the collapse of the soil could have occurred due to the fact that intensive salt mining was once carried out here. Probably, groundwater gave impetus to the formation of a dangerous landslide.

In the city of Berezniki in 2007, a giant sinkhole formed on the territory of one of the enterprises: 15 meters deep and an area of two and a half thousand square meters. The ground collapse occurred in an industrial area where salt mines are located underground. In dangerous proximity there is a salt factory and a local thermal power plant. Just a kilometer away are residential buildings.

On November 25, 2003, in the center of Lisbon (Portugal), a parked bus suddenly began to go underground. The reason for this was a deep hole that formed in the roadway.

Another hole on the road in Changchun city in Jilin province, May 29, 2011. A truck went underground.

This hole in the Earth was formed in June 2010 in Hunan province, its dimensions are: diameter - 150 meters, depth - 50 meters. The reasons for its appearance are unclear.

On September 7, 2008, a large sinkhole (15 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep) appeared in the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province.

Our world is filled with majestic sights. Some of the planet's impressive wonders are man-made, but most of them come from nature. These include mysterious holes on Earth.

Mystery Hole Deluxe

Its origin still remains a mystery. No one can explain how it was formed. And even with the most innovative methods it is impossible to measure its depth!

Glory Hole

Located on the beautiful Monticello Dam. The Glory Hole seems like a tunnel into the very depths of the planet! However, it is designed to drain water.

Funnel Sawmill

Located on Bahamas, and is essentially a site for archaeological research. This place helped scientists understand what the Earth looked like thousands of years ago.

Devil's Funnel

Judging by appearance, this place can hardly be called the Devil's Funnel. But this is a forbidden area as it is very dangerous. In summer you can see millions of bats flying out of the abyss.

Great Blue Hole

It can be seen in the Caribbean Sea. During the last ice age, a cave system was formed here. The hole is considered one of best places for diving in the world.

Dean's Blue Hole

If you travel to the Bahamas, be sure to visit Dean's Blue Hole. It is considered the deepest blue hole on the planet and is therefore ideal for diving enthusiasts.

Harwood hole

Interestingly, it is more of a cave than a hole. This deepest vertical cave is located in New Zealand.

Diamond mine "Mirnaya"

Gigantic in size (525 meters deep and 1200 meters wide), the open diamond mine is considered the second largest excavated hole in the world.

Kimberlite pipe “Udachnaya”

In addition to the Mirny mine, diamonds are also mined in the Udachnaya pipe, which is located 20 km from the Arctic Circle.

Heavenly Hole (Tianken Xiaozhai)

Believe it or not, it was formed over 120,000 years ago. Today the hole has become ideal place for lovers of parachuting.

Bingham Canyon

West of Salt Lake City is one of the largest copper mines in the world.

Hole in Guatemala

In 2010, a hole 20 meters deep appeared in the capital of Guatemala. It not only destroyed the road, but also swallowed up a three-story factory. There were many versions of the formation of the funnel. The main ones are considered to be the eruption of the Pacaya volcano, a tropical storm and water leakage from nearby sewer pipes.

Based on materials from: elitereaders.com

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List of the largest holes on Earth created by nature or human hands.

Guatemala. Heavy rains and an underground river caused the soil to collapse. As a result, several houses were destroyed. The depth of the hole was 150 m, diameter - 20 m.

("Big Blue Hole"), Belize. A beautiful, perfectly round blue spot in the middle Caribbean Sea attracts tourists and those who want to get a thrill in fins and masks under the water. The Great Blue Hole became popular thanks to marine explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He included the Blue Hole in his list of the best diving spots in the world. Its width is 350 meters, and its depth reaches 120 m.

3. Kimberlite pipe "Big Hole". Located in South Africa. The hole reaches a depth of 1097 meters. During the excavation, 3 tons of diamonds were found, and 22 million tons of rocks were moved to the surface. Mining of kimberlite ore was completed in 1914. Interesting fact is that it was dug by man without the use of technology.

4. Diavik quarry, Canada. One of the youngest kimberlite ore quarries. The quarry began operating in 2003. According to experts, there will be enough diamond ore for about 20 years. The quarry is unique in that it is located on a small island.

5. Kimberlite pipe "Mir", Yakutia. One of the largest quarries in the world. Its depth is exactly 525 meters, and its diameter is 1.2 km. In June 2001, diamond mining was suspended because... extraction of the remaining reserves is not profitable.

Utah, USA. The quarry reaches a depth of 1 km and a width of 3.5 km. This is the largest active quarry in . Copper mining began in 1863 and continues today.

It so happens that from time to time our planet fails. If you're lucky, holes of various sizes and degrees of bottomlessness are formed in deserted seas, jungles, taiga and tundra, but it also happens that entire cities are in danger of going underground. In some cases, nature itself is responsible for such pranks, simply presenting a person with a fait accompli, but increasingly, the blame for such incidents remains with people. Onliner.by has selected the top most beautiful and terrible, large and deep holes, places where the center of the Earth becomes a little closer.

1. Dongguan, China.

It is in China that sinkholes occur especially often. Natural disasters in this huge country are combined with extremely intensive construction, which is often carried out in flagrant violation of all established norms and rules. Last summer the construction new station underground railway in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan, it ended with almost an entire street going underground.

The funnel formed in several stages. First, a minibus fell into the first hole with an area of 80 square meters, and a day later, into a hole that turned out to be four times larger, the minibus was followed by the structures of an almost completed metro station and part of a city street. In this case, one person died, several neighboring buildings were seriously damaged, and the process of formation of the failure was caught on video.

2. Meridian, Mississippi, USA.

Diners who wanted to dine at the IHOP fast-food pancake house located in the rural town of Meridian in the heart of Mississippi were definitely not prepared for the surprise that nature had in store for them. On November 9, 2015, at 7:15 p.m., a giant trench 180 meters long and 15 meters wide suddenly appeared in a restaurant parking lot. A dozen cars of the establishment's clients immediately fell into it.

Most likely, the cause of the incident was the prolonged rains, which had been falling in Meridian for two weeks by that time. Local media reported that a storm sewer ran directly under the parking lot, apparently unable to withstand the pressure of the incoming water. According to another version, the failure could have occurred due to construction work carried out in this area. The IHOP restaurant had only been open for a week at the time of the emergency, and construction of a hotel continued nearby. Fortunately, the vehicles were the only ones damaged during this incident.

3. Batagai, Yakutia, Russia.

Scientists first discovered the Batagai fault in the mid-1960s. At that time it was a relatively small ravine, but over the past five decades it has grown to cyclopean dimensions of a kilometer long, 800 meters wide and up to 100 meters deep. The hole, reminiscent of an overgrown tadpole, is located in a sparsely populated area, near the village of Batagai, where tin mining began with the help of camp prisoners even before the Great Patriotic War. The emergence of this curious object is connected with this circumstance.

For the needs of the created mine, forests were cut down in the vicinity of Batagai. Subsequently, active permafrost melting occurred in this area, as a result of which the top layer of soil fell into the resulting voids. From the point of view of the ecology of the region, the ongoing process is negative in nature, but so far the rare tourists here and especially scientists who have received a convenient testing ground for studying permafrost are happy with what happened. According to the Yakut tradition, the remains of a mammoth and ancient plants, whose age reaches 200 thousand years, have already been discovered here.

4. Guatemala, Guatemala.

On February 23, 2007, in the capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City, nothing foreshadowed trouble, until an almost perfectly round hole with sheer walls hundreds of meters deep appeared right in the middle of a densely populated residential area. In this case, there were no casualties: as a result of this tragedy, five people died at once. The worst thing is that these victims were not the last.

Just three years later, in May 2010, another similar failure (20 meters wide, 90 meters deep) appeared in Guatemala, completely destroying a three-story factory building. As a result of this incident, 15 people have already died. Both tragedies were caused by a combination of factors: leaking sewers and heavy rains that caused flooding simply eroded the volcanic and limestone rocks on which the city stands.

5. Ein Gedi, Israel.

If in Guatemala the matter was limited to only two failures, then in the Israeli oasis of Ein Gedi, located on the coast Dead Sea, they literally count in the thousands. The reason for their formation was the constant, ongoing decline in the level of the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet. At the same time, due to the ever-increasing withdrawal of water from the Jordan River that feeds it, the water level in the sea is falling at a rate of about a meter per year. The sea-saline rock begins to be actively eroded by fresh groundwater, which, in turn, leads to the formation of numerous and extensive voids, the obligatory precursors of failures. It is extremely difficult to predict their appearance, which seriously threatens the tourism potential of the region.

6. Tianken Xiaozhai, China.

This is the deepest natural sinkhole on Earth. An underground river flowing in the Difeng Cave in the Chinese municipality of Chongqing has, over time, eroded the limestones that form the local mountains. The result was logical: the resulting karst sinkhole is 662 meters deep and more than half a kilometer wide.

Speleologists discovered it relatively recently, in 1994, after which the hole received the nickname “Sky Pit.” In addition to tourists, the pit was favored by numerous plants and animals, including the rare clouded leopard.

7. Solikamsk and Berezniki, Russia.

Over thirty years, starting in 1986, six large sinkholes appeared on the territory and in the immediate vicinity of the Ural cities of Solikamsk and Berezniki. Since the 1930s, active mining of potassium salts has been carried out here, as a result of which settlements found themselves surrounded by large mine workings. Moreover, the cities that grew over time eventually occupied the territory above them, and they were separated from the vast underground voids only by a relatively thin, 250-350-meter jumper.

The salt rock underground continues to be dissolved by groundwater. This process deforms the inter-mine bridges left in the workings, which ultimately leads to destabilization of their structure, flooding of mines, the formation of cracks, and man-made earthquakes. The sinkholes in Berezniki and Solikamsk continue to increase, which has already led to the resettlement of entire urban areas on the surface and the closure of a number of enterprises.

8. Sarisarinyama, Venezuela.

Tepuis are unique mesas in Venezuela, the remains of an ancient plateau isolated from the rest of the world at their base. On their flat tops there is a special world with endemic species of plants and animals that have evolved along their own path for thousands of years. In addition to this circumstance, tepuis are also interesting for their numerous karst sinkholes, the largest of which are located on Mount Sarisarinyama in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar.

They were formed by the collapse of the arches of the underground river tunnels that literally pierce the mountain. The largest of the four failures on Sarisarinyam are Sima Humboldt and Sima Martel, located 700 meters from each other, going 300-350 meters deep into the tepui. At their bottom there is life of its own, including even large trees, and this life was isolated from both the top of the plateau and Big Earth- a unique microcosm within a microcosm, a thing in itself, discovered only in the 1960s.

She is the biggest diamond quarry Republic of Yakutia, and according to some sources - the whole world, and contains a quarter of the world's diamond reserves. With a diameter of 1200 meters, it goes 515 meters into the ground, narrowing at the base to 50 meters.

Giant Blue Hole, Belize

This is an underwater vertical cave with a diameter of approximately 300 meters and a depth of 120 meters. It was once part of a system of limestone caves on the surface of the earth. But as a result of the melting of ice, the waters of the ocean rose, which led to the flooding of caves and the formation of a karst funnel in the shape of a pointed shell.

Bingham Canyon Copper Mine, USA

The copper mine, located in Utah near Salt Lake City, is the largest of its kind on the entire planet. Copper mining is carried out in an open-pit manner; the quarry is a giant hole in earth's crust 1.2 kilometers deep and 4 kilometers wide. The area of the pit on the surface is 7.7 sq. km, and its size increases every year.

Diavik Diamond Mine, Canada

The Diavik quarry, located in the Canadian province near Yellowknife, is one of the largest open-pit diamond mines in the world. Its depth is 525 meters and its diameter is about 1200 meters. The mine produces about 20 thousand carats, that is, about 4 kilograms, of diamonds every day.

Monticello Dam, USA

The Monticello Dam in the US state of California is famous for its unique hydraulic overflow. There is a large concrete pipe installed in the middle of Lake Berryessa, into which water flows if the surface level of the reservoir changes. Previously, there was a city of the same name here, but during the construction of a dam on the lake, it was flooded and is now located at its very bottom.

Big Hole kimberlite pipe, South Africa

This is a huge, now inactive, diamond mine located in the city of Kimberley in South Africa. The “Big Hole” is considered the largest mine developed by people “by hand”, without the use of technology. When the mine was active, its depth was 240 meters. Now it is gradually filling with water. In its place 100 million years ago there was a volcanic crater.

Karst sinkhole in Guatemala

A huge karst sinkhole occurred in Guatemala after tropical storm Agatha. The hole completely swallowed the three-story building of a garment factory. Its dimensions were about 20 meters, and its origin was explained by the process of washing away soil and bedrock by water.