May 31, 2010: New Guatemalan sinkhole

Undertoad • May 31, 2010 10:37 pm
Image

When gvidas forwarded along this shot from a NY Times blog, I thought, no, we've already had this shot in February 2007; but no, they say this is an entirely *different* precisely round sink hole eating up the roads and homes of crappy, downtrodden Guatemala City.

They say this one is blamed on the tropical storm there, but the last one wasn't due to any storm.

Image

Very suspicious. Is something cutting secret holes in Guatemala? What could be their reasoning?
monster • May 31, 2010 10:39 pm
consider that goats*d
lumberjim • May 31, 2010 10:50 pm
shopp'd
monster • May 31, 2010 11:29 pm
eat'n
Wombat • Jun 1, 2010 2:50 am
Keep an eye out for very large pillars of rock appearing somewhere. Although I'm not sure how the rock-thief moved them from Guatemala to their new location.
Nikolai • Jun 1, 2010 4:26 am
The sandworms of Dune on holiday?
Image
Ibby • Jun 1, 2010 5:51 am
Nikolai;659727 wrote:
The sandworms of Dune on holiday?
Image


NO. IT'S THE SILURIANS! HOMO REPTILIA!
SPUCK • Jun 1, 2010 6:34 am
I would not be walking around that..


They have to be man caused. There aren't a bunch of these spattered all around. They all end up in South American cities, where pavement and plumbing run. And it's after decades of the city being there. I'm surprised to see no pipes or plumbing running thru the sides. Could they just sort of be running into cesspools that dissolve away the under-dirt?

Now the un-ded have direct access.:thepain:
HungLikeJesus • Jun 1, 2010 8:50 am
It's like urban crop circles.
TheDaVinciChode • Jun 1, 2010 9:16 am
You know how, sometimes, you'll poke a pie, with either a fork, or your finger... to see if it's ready to be eaten?

Yeah... What do you think Galactus does, prior to eating planets?

... We're screwed.

Image
classicman • Jun 1, 2010 9:30 am
Strange that I cannot find a credible news source on it. There were a couple that just referenced the original article. Bummer.
HungLikeJesus • Jun 1, 2010 9:44 am
Hey, that guy's in Flint's post in the Shooting Hummingbirds thread.
TheDaVinciChode • Jun 1, 2010 9:55 am
HungLikeJesus;659755 wrote:
Hey, that guy's in Flint's post in the Shooting Hummingbirds thread.


See? He's coming!
glatt • Jun 1, 2010 9:59 am
It's amazing to me how these sinkholes end up having such vertical sides. I'd expect the sides to collapse inward, creating a funnel shape.
ToastyOhs • Jun 1, 2010 10:14 am
What do they do with them after?

Once they are old news, what do you do with a giant 300 foot sinkhole?
TheDaVinciChode • Jun 1, 2010 10:25 am
ToastyOhs;659764 wrote:
What do they do with them after?

Once they are old news, what do you do with a giant 300 foot sinkhole?


Make it a tourist attraction, boot out the poor residents, revitalise the neighbourhood, and move in the rich folk.

Maybe BP will plug it up. ;) ... although they're not very good at that, are they?
Pie • Jun 1, 2010 12:04 pm
TheDaVinciChode;659748 wrote:
You know how, sometimes, you'll poke a pie, with either a fork, or your finger... to see if it's ready to be eaten?


Hey! :eek:
Cloud • Jun 1, 2010 12:11 pm
the pic was on CNN today. They say it's the result of a hurricane, but it's OBVIOUSLY a Hellmouth!
jinx • Jun 1, 2010 12:12 pm
SPUCK;659738 wrote:
I'm surprised to see no pipes or plumbing running thru the sides.


I see several.
squirell nutkin • Jun 1, 2010 12:50 pm
wasn't there some talk about the sinkholes being related to the "Death Comet" (ok meteorite) that hit the earth and wiped out the dinosaurs? The pattern of the sinkholes was roughly where the ejecta from the impact crater would have landed?
Cloud • Jun 1, 2010 12:51 pm
those aren't pipes--those are the Sarlacc's tentacles!
TheDaVinciChode • Jun 1, 2010 2:28 pm
Pie;659788 wrote:
Hey! :eek:


*Poke*

... Not quite there.

... Yet. ;)
Trilby • Jun 1, 2010 2:48 pm
I'm glad I saw this. I'm in the mood for a sinkhole.
Gravdigr • Jun 1, 2010 3:14 pm
Ya couldn't ask for a nicer looking hole if ya bored it yaself.
squirell nutkin • Jun 1, 2010 5:37 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/31/honduras.storm.emergency/index.html?hpt=T1
Knight f3 • Jun 1, 2010 11:40 pm
ToastyOhs;659764 wrote:
What do they do with them after?

Once they are old news, what do you do with a giant 300 foot sinkhole?

[QUOTE=TheDaVinciChode;659769]Make it a tourist attraction, boot out the poor residents, revitalise the neighbourhood, and move in the rich folk.



A tourist trap as it were? Maybe put a souvenir kiosk there and when the tourists gather...BAM! activate the sink holiness...
Leah • Jun 2, 2010 12:00 am
what a crazy place, I'd be scared to go there.
SPUCK • Jun 2, 2010 6:21 am
ToastyOhs;659764 wrote:
What do they do with them after?

Once they are old news, what do you do with a giant 300 foot sinkhole?


Here you go ladies and gentlemen! Step right up!
Have you ever seen such an easy garbage dump? Just back the trucks up and dump! The Endless Landfill.

Buy it now and we'll throw in the Sewage Special at no additional charge!

Plumb all your city sewage right over the edge. In it all goes. Away flush all your municipal troubles!

A godsend for any large city. All the cities are clamoring for them. These two lucky cities are just the first recipients!
Get your order in NOW!
TheDaVinciChode • Jun 2, 2010 9:28 am
SPUCK;659917 wrote:
Here you go ladies and gentlemen! Step right up!
Have you ever seen such an easy garbage dump? Just back the trucks up and dump! The Endless Landfill.

Buy it now and we'll throw in the Sewage Special at no additional charge!

Plumb all your city sewage right over the edge. In it all goes. Away flush all your municipal troubles!

A godsend for any large city. All the cities are clamoring for them. These two lucky cities are just the first recipients!
Get your order in NOW!


If the underground water was able to shift that much dirt... I wonder if it could shift garbage, and, if so... Where would it go?!
ToastyOhs • Jun 2, 2010 11:19 am
Out of sight, out of mind - into the groundwater. All the garbage you can dump for the low low price of 100 Quetzal and your health.
onetrack • Jun 6, 2010 7:33 am
HA! - What you are seeing, is the result of the U.S. Military's experimental firing from space, of their new, giant laser-ray gun .... :eek:

It's a shame they still haven't got the aiming mechanism quite perfected, just yet .. it WAS aimed at Pyongyang .. :yeldead:
monster • Jun 6, 2010 7:51 pm
What to do with a fucking great mysterious hole in the ground? Pee in it, of course! Right, UT?
TheDaVinciChode • Jun 6, 2010 7:52 pm
onetrack;660898 wrote:
HA! - What you are seeing, is the result of the U.S. Military's experimental firing from space, of their new, giant laser-ray gun .... :eek:

It's a shame they still haven't got the aiming mechanism quite perfected, just yet .. it WAS aimed at Pyongyang .. :yeldead:


I wondered what that giant, shark-shaped object was doing, in orbit, around the Earth...

There's a frickin' shark, with a frickin' laser beam attached to it's frickin' head, shooting pot shots at our planet.

U.S Military Experiment? Aliens? Poor attempt at connecting the above post to an Austin Power's quote? Shark that's pissed off because it's been called a "dolphin" one too many times?

[COLOR="Red"]You decide![/COLOR]
gvidas • Jun 6, 2010 8:47 pm
Sorry, boss. Turns out it's not a sinkhole:

The giant sinkhole that opened beneath downtown Guatemala City over the weekend is all the rage right now. There's just one problem: it isn't a sinkhole.

"Sure, it looks a lot like a sinkhole," geologist Sam Bonis told Discovery News from his home in Guatemala. "And a whale looks a lot like a fish, but calling it one would be very misleading."

Instead, Bonis prefers the term "piping feature" -- a decidedly less sexy label for the 100-foot deep, 66-foot wide circular chasm. But it's an important distinction, he maintains, because "sinkholes" refer to areas where bedrock is solid but has been eaten away by groundwater, forming a geological Swiss cheese whose contours are nearly impossible to predict.
wanderer • Jun 7, 2010 5:07 am
Yeah, gvidas.....check out this too....
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100603-science-guatemala-sinkhole-2010-humans-caused/
Coign • Jun 7, 2010 10:31 am
An interesting update to the big hole. (What-ever its name.) They breifly talk about, what do you do with it?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0603/Geologists-baffled-by-what-to-do-with-giant-Guatemala-sinkhole
spudcon • Jun 7, 2010 11:28 am
Just change the name to Giant Stinkhole," and let nature take its course.
HungLikeJesus • Jun 7, 2010 11:33 am
Perhaps it could be filled with potatoes.
wanderer • Jun 7, 2010 12:25 pm
HungLikeJesus;661234 wrote:
Perhaps it could be filled with potatoes.


.......mashed ones
Shawnee123 • Jun 7, 2010 12:36 pm
Half-baked?
Spexxvet • Jun 7, 2010 1:28 pm
Fill it with the oil in gulf.
TheDaVinciChode • Jun 7, 2010 1:47 pm
Seems like a good place to dump rapists, and paedophiles.

... That's right. They should build a great-big Catholic Church down there.
Shawnee123 • Jun 7, 2010 1:50 pm
haggis!
wanderer • Jun 8, 2010 1:11 am
Spexxvet;661302 wrote:
Fill it with the oil in gulf.


......and put it on fire:shotgun:
Adak • Jun 8, 2010 6:03 am
So we're preparing rapists and pedophiles fired in raw heavy oil, with mashed potatoes and haggis, for dinner?

I'm thinking overeating will be a thing of the past!!;) ;)
TheDaVinciChode • Jun 8, 2010 12:14 pm
It'll really mess with your butt-hole, on the way out, though. ;)
Adak • Jun 15, 2010 10:00 am
Another big one, still growing, in China:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/10318745.stm

(go to the second pic in the series)

They still don't know what caused this one, or why it's still getting larger. :eek:
classicman • Jun 15, 2010 11:04 am
there are a few in China apparently...

Sudden Sinkhole Outbreak Raises Fears in China

Monster Pothole swallows car
spudcon • Jun 15, 2010 4:49 pm
It happens in China because China sucks. Buncha commies.
gvidas • Jun 15, 2010 5:48 pm
"Dave's Landslide Blog" seems to do a pretty good job of providing photos and commentary on most major landslide / earth-moving-when-it-shouldn't events worldwide.
richlevy • Jun 15, 2010 10:28 pm
I don't suppose anyones seen a silver guy flying on a surfboard.
Clodfobble • Jun 15, 2010 10:37 pm
I keep reading this thread title and thinking "New Guatemala? That's not a country!"
HungLikeJesus • Jun 15, 2010 10:45 pm
Where are all the people? If that were in the US there would be like a million people taking pictures with their cell phones, or falling in so they could sue the DOT.
xoxoxoBruce • Jun 15, 2010 10:49 pm
They've got the area blocked off, several blocks from the hole.
SPUCK • Jun 16, 2010 6:24 am
xoxoxoBruce;663385 wrote:
They've got the area blocked off, several blocks from the hole.


Except for that guy in the poncho looking to buy some crack.

And, boy did he find one!:D
Griff • Jun 16, 2010 6:46 am
Have we been seeing more of these since the hadron collider went on line?:tinfoil:
footfootfoot • Nov 2, 2010 9:30 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater
glatt • Nov 2, 2010 9:33 am
footfootfoot;692106 wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater


a gravity anomaly in the Yucatan? How does that work?
footfootfoot • Nov 2, 2010 11:11 am
Isn't gravity determined by density? I imagine if you look at the earth there is average gravity, and then if you look at parts in enough detail there may be spots with greater or lesser gravity.

Just a guess. Physics was over 30 years ago.
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 2, 2010 12:55 pm
Yes, I read an article about a satellite that was going to scan the earth for a gravity map. I think they said it varies in a general pattern, less at the poles, more at the equator, plus lots of local abnormalities.
footfootfoot • Nov 2, 2010 2:04 pm
Next, we'll work on our levity map.
glatt • Nov 2, 2010 2:17 pm
Interesting. Makes sense. I never knew it was a measurable effect.

So you will weigh less in Sri Lanka than in Borneo.
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 2, 2010 2:18 pm
Looks like the Rockies don't hold a candle to the Andes.