Massive sinkhole swallows 25 tonnes of fish overnight
Meteorologist
Friday, April 1, 2016, 9:47 AM - A farmer in China has lost 25 tonnes of fish overnight to a sinkhole that suddenly opened in his pond.
Water levels first seemed to be dropping in the Guiping City pond around 4 a.m. on March 24. By 9 a.m. the pond - and the tens of thousands of fish in it - had almost entirely disappeared into a giant hole.
While the cause of the sinkhole isn't clear, local villagers point the finger at a nearby quarry which has been blamed for other sinkholes in the area. The farmer estimates his loss at nearly $100,000.
Sinkholes can form through natural processes or as a result of human activity. Natural sinkholes generally form in karst landscapes, where soluble rocks like limestone and gypsum are worn away by groundwater. Human-formed sinkholes tend to result from mining activity, when an abandoned cavern collapses, or from water main and sewer collapses.
The largest natural sinkhole on record is the Qattara Depression, which lies west of Cairo, Egypt, and measures a staggering 80 kilometres long by 120 kilometres wide.
Sources: Discovery | Mashable | New China TV |
