Sinkholes, Subsidence and Related Mass Movements

Sinkholes are the most diagnostic geological hazard in karst, and also an important hazard in urbanized areas, due to presence of artificial cavities. They are produced by a variety of processes, but the most common situation is the direct relation with an underground void. Sinkholes are a subtle hazard, since they are in many cases very difficult to predict. This article describes their origin and the effects they have on society, also linking them to other geohazards, with particular reference to slope mass movements. 

This study presents a GIS-based approach to efficiently assess sinkhole susceptibility based on their morphological and contextual attributes derived from GIS and imagery data. Using a 14-km2 karst area in Nixa, Missouri as the study area, we first applied a sequence of GIS operations to extract sinks (i.e., topographic depressions), from bare-ground digital terrain models. We then derived three types of sink attributes from various GIS and imagery data, including four morphological attributes related to sink size, shape, depth, and terrain ruggedness; three imagery attributes denoting the impervious surface percentage, vegetation growth condition, and seasonal water conditions of sinks; and seven contextual attributes related to land use, population density, neighborhood sink density, hydrological flow, groundwater yield, bedrock depth, and historical sinkhole records. Sinks were ranked by each of the 14 attributes and assigned corresponding susceptibility scores, then combined by specified weights. The results identified high-priority sinkholes for mitigation activities or for further field-based inspection. The proposed computerized approach for sinkhole susceptibility ranking can be effectively used as a first-stage sinkhole examination to maximize the use of limited resources for further comprehensive investigation.

/pdf/sinkhole-susceptibility-assessment-based-on-morphological-566d8nbbs5.pdf

Sinkhole susceptibility assessment based on morphological, imagery, and contextual attributes derived from gis and imagery data

Complex relationships between surface topography, ground motion, and cover sediments in covered karst, west-central Florida, USA

Karst Survey: Settlement Block, Florentine Valley

The reasons of rapid development of cover-collapse sinkholes near Railton, Tasmania were investigated after sinkholes first appeared in a mature pine plantation in 2011. Sinkhole monitoring, dye tracing, chemical analyses of stream water and field observations indicated that large sinkholes in Quaternary alluvium overlying Ordovician limestone resulted from deepening of a limestone quarry south of the plantation. Intersection of a cave system during quarrying lowered the local water table, initiated streamsinks, and caused streams that previously flowed north towards the Mersey River to flow south to the quarry, via streamsinks and reactivated subsurface channels. Concurrently, the thickness of the vadose zone in thick Quaternary sediments overlying the limestone increased, hydraulic support for the sediments decreased, and numerous cover-collapse sinkholes formed. Chemical data including isotope analyses confirmed that the local aquifer is mainly recharged after high winter rainfall during high stream flow, when a proportion of the water in surface streams also flows directly northwards to the Mersey River. During low (summer) flow most water in surface streams flows into streamsinks and south into the quarry via the cave system. It is then pumped to a surface stream running north through the area in question, returns into the cave system via streamsinks and sinkholes, and finally returns to the quarry. The study demonstrates that water-table lowering by quarrying in limestone is not confined to cones of depression but may extend for kilometres if relict subsurface stream channels are intersected. In this area, the rapid development of cover-collapse sinkholes presents risks to infrastructure (a railway line, an electricity transmission line, and roads); to stream biodiversity because of altered water flow duration and water quality; to the safety of forest contractors, particularly those using heavy machines; and to the future use of presently productive land for economic return.

/pdf/a-reactivated-cave-system-induces-rapidly-developing-cover-1t84sdyxd0.pdf

A reactivated cave system induces rapidly developing cover-collapse sinkholes in Tasmania, Australia

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A reactivated cave system induces rapidly developing cover-collapse sinkholes in Tasmania, Australia