GSC 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Great Blue Hole, Sinkhole, Hubpages
14 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Sinkholes, also known as dolines and sinks, are one of the major subsidence problems throughout the world. Sinkholes or areas vulnerable to future sinkholes are important to understand. Today, geologists are consulted to assess if the ground beneath the foundation of a house or establishment is sturdy and supportive. They even have created a map of the areas prone to becoming sinkholes. This is conducted by using electric resistivity and low-frequency imaging. (enviroprobe, sinkhole. Dolines can arise from fractures and cracks in the earth"s surface. Sinkholes usually occur within areas that have dissolvable material in the subsurface. The acidic rain speeds up the process of eating away at the layers of earth. Rocks made out of carbonate, such as limestone in florida, are highly susceptible to this process. Other landscapes that mainly have gypsum and halite, composed of calcium, sulfate, and sodium chloride, are problem areas due to the underlying rock"s weak ionic bonds.
