Giant Sinkhole, Large Enough To Devour The White House, Pops Up In Chile
Welp. There are few scenarios as frightening as having the ground below you suddenly open up to swallow everything whole, but that’s exactly what happened when an enormous sinkhole emerged on a mining plot in Chile.
According to Sernageomin, the country’s National Service of Geology and Mining, the 104-foot-wide crater in the Earth appeared in a rural area just on the outskirts of Tierra Amarilla, more than 400 miles north of the capital city of Santiago.
“There is a considerable distance, approximately 200 meters (656 feet), to the bottom. We haven’t detected any material down there, but we have seen the presence of a lot of water,” quipped David Montenegro, Director of Sernageomin, in a statement.
As per Vice, that means the sinkhole is easily as deep as the length of two soccer fields, and its width—measuring 82 feet in diameter—is about just as large as the entire width of the White House.
At the moment, the surrounding land is being investigated by geologists to see if the unexpected appearance of a sinkhole was in any way connected to the mining operations in the region, which have come under fire over the years as posing a threat to residents in the area.
#EstaPasando
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Aparece enorme socavón de 25 metros de diámetro en Atacama
El orificio apareció el sábado en la comuna de Tierra Amarilla, Región de Atacama, en terrenos de la operación minera subterránea de cobre Alcaparrosa de Candelaria.
Qué te parece? Te leemos! pic.twitter.com/5r67dNTEsi
Cristóbal Zúñiga, Mayor of Tierra Amarilla, had told a radio station that the community in the area “has always had a fear” such an event could occur, and that although it was fortunate enough to have happened in an agricultural area this time, fears remain that it could affect a populated city center next.
Lundin Mining, the company behind the ongoing operations, released a statement that said the area was immediately isolated following the discovery of the sinkhole, and that thankfully, “there has been no impact to personnel, equipment, or infrastructure.”
Live Science explained that sinkholes often form over areas where water accumulated underground without a way for drainage.
Although they typically form near old or active mines over an extended period of time, these craters can appear suddenly, causing everything in its path to cave in.
Fingers crossed the authorities get to the bottom (pun unintended) of this distressing situation, and ensure no actual humans or buildings fall through the cracks.
[via Live Science and Vice, cover image via Sernageomin]
