The Craziest Sinkholes Around The World

Berezniki, Russia: The Mining Sinkhole

Image Source: Mining.Com

Berezniki in Russia, found this sinkhole in 1986 outside a potash mining outlet. It's believed that the sinkhole occurred as a result of flooding in the mine! The mine's sole rail line is now close to destruction due to the sinkhole, likely closing the plant. This is just one of many sinkholes in the region, Scary!

Guatemala: The Perfect Circle

Image Source: Reddit

This one is truly terrifying! For weeks in 2007 locals in the city heard weird rumblings beneath them, and then one day an almost perfect circle dropped nearly 30 stories. Over 1000 people had to be evacuated and two people unfortunately died, crazily this happened again in the same city 3 years later.

Bimmah, Oman: Tourist Sinkhole

Image Source: Trip Advisor

It's not often that a sinkhole occurs and then comes out looking quite as beautiful as this! The residents of Bimmah in Oman decided that they would be able to make good money out of luring tourists to this destination, I mean, look at that water! Nice little swim park!

Texas: The Devil's Sinkhole

Image Source: Texas Hill Country

Archaeologists believe that this sinkhole was once considered to be sacred by Native Americans! This is because arrowheads, treasures and stalactites have been found in and around the sinkhole. Who knows what else could be down there! People continue to explore this regularly.

Macungie, Pennsylvania: The Waterhole

Image Source: Pinterest

Sinkholes aren't just natural occurrences, sometimes human error can lead to them appearing. This Macungie sinkhole came about as a result of the Pennsylvania water system aging and crumbling, bringing down the surface with it. Fortunately, no one was on the road at the time.

Daisetta, Texas: The Oil Sinkhole

Image Source: Reddit

Believe it or not, this sinkhole originated as a small 20ft hole, however in the space of just a day, in terrifying circumstances, it spread to over 900ft wide. Making it even worse, authorities had been investigating leaking oil and gas lines locally, so tanks of gas were also poured into the sinkhole.

Corvette Museum Sinkhole

Image Source: Reddit

You might have been mistaken for thinking the cars in the image were fake. But scarily, this sinkhole arrived inside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Kentucky, swallowing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of vehicles. The museum was obviously forced to close for a period following the incident.

Bowling Green, Kentucky

Image Source: Pinterest

Bowling Green, AGAIN! If you're around these areas maybe it's time you make your escape. This sinkhole appeared out of nowhere and forced plans for the Kentucky Trimodal Transpark to be abandoned due to fears of more sinkholes appearing. Again, fortunately nobody was on the road at the time.

Centralia, Pennsylvania: The Abandoned Town

Image Source: Reddit

This is just one of the many sinkholes in the abandoned town of Centralia. They began occurring in 1962 when an underground fire was ignited and still burns to this day, this is as a result of the coal reserves beneath the town. Some people still choose to live nearby although the toxic fumes would likely make this difficult.

Fukuoka, Japan: Fixed In 2 Days!

Image Source: Reddit

In 2016, 5 roads lanes of a main road in Fukuoka were swallowed and the hole was quickly filled with water. The crazy part is Japanese officials fixed the hole within 2 days! However, they didn't quite sort the problem as the roadway was shifted slightly meaning problems persist.

Xiaozhai Tiankeng, China: The Largest Sinkhole

Image Source: Reddit

Unbelievably, we didn't know this sinkhole existed until 1994 following a caves mapping project. This is one of the most beautiful sinkholes you'll see with it featuring a stunning waterfall within it reaching 2,100 ft deep! This also contains it's own ecosystem so who knows what you could find.

The Bahamas: Dean's Blue Hole

Image Source: Reddit

You would be forgiven for not knowing that sinkholes also occur under water, also known as blue holes. This one in The Bahamas is 330 ft wide at its widest. This occurred as a result of limestone erosion under the water. This look absolutely terrifying, the ocean is a crazy place.

Belize: The Great Blue Hole

Image Source: Reddit

Another frightening blue hole! This one is almost three times the size of the one in The Bahamas at 1000 ft wide and 400 ft deep. And somehow, the deeper you go the water gets clearer, and there is apparently a great rock formation at about 400 ft deep. It's actually part of a UNESCO heritage site!

Guangzhou: The Shop Swallower

Image

Source: The Denver Post

This looks like something out of a Dwayne Johnson Thriller! This sinkhole appeared beside a subway construction site in 2013 and swallowed 5 shops at a depth of 30ft. Somehow, no one was injured during the problem. 1000ft of debris had to be cleared using cranes and a lot of hard work.

Cairo, Egypt: The Qattara Depression

Image Source: Conde Nast Traveler

This doesn't look like a sinkhole, but it's actually the largest natural sinkhole in the world! It's actually 50 miles long and 75 miles world, Insane! They are actually trying to use this sinkhole to produce hydroelectric energy to provide the local region and even potentially on a wider scale.

Mount Gambier, Australia: The Garden Sinkhole

Image Source: Reddit

One of the more visually appealing sinkholes you'll see, this one in South East Australia has been turned into a garden! In fact the whole area is a geographical haven, with water channels, caves and volcanic rocks. These can all be explored as an tourist location aimed at educating children and adults.

Dahab, Egypt: Diving Blue Hole

Image Source: Reddit

This blue hole has become a very popular scuba, and free diving location due to its abundance of reef fish and corals. However, some people have started to label this area as too dangerous, potentially even the most dangerous dive site in the world. This is due to the depths and the changing tides.

Sarisarinama, Venezuela: The Hidden Holes

Image Source: Reddit

A very beautiful site, but one of the most mysterious of sinkhole discoveries. These sites were discovered in 1961 but scientists are yet to understand how or why they even originated. They even contain their own ecosystems; this means their could be animals within the sinkholes that aren't anywhere else.

Winnipeg, Canada: The Sunken Road

Image Source: Winnipeg Free Press

This Canadian sinkhole appeared after a week of torrential rains with over 12 inches of precipitation. Around 200 meters of the highway was destroyed with some simply washed away. The image shows the highway dropping 8m below its original state. This must've taken a while to fix!

Dead Sea, Israel: Growing Sinkholes

Image Source: The Times of Israel

Thousands of sinkholes have began appearing around the Dead Sea, apparently due to a water shortage being worsened as a result of increased tourism, a growing population and chemical industries. It is believed that there is double the amount of sinkholes beneath the surface that hasn't burst yet.

Harwood Hole, New Zealand: The Cave Sinkhole

Image Source: Reddit

This sinkhole, found in New Zealand is part of an important group of cave systems between the Tasman Bay and the Golden Bay. It has become a popular site for cave explorers and other adventurers as the long rope descent is coming to be known as one of the most spectacular caving experiences.

Picher, Oklahoma: Another Ghost Town

Image Source: Reddit

Picher, in the North East of Oklahoma, used to be one of the most productive mining fields of zinc and lead in that area of the US. However, all of this mining damaged the town's understructure rendering the city unliveable as a result of all of the sinkholes now appearing.

 Florida: The Hurricane Sinkhole

Image Source: NY Post

This sinkhole appeared across the road from Fort Clarke Middle School, and was brought on by Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. Hurricanes are another natural disaster that can lead to sinkholes forming; they change the layer beneath the surface causing the ground to give way.

San Diego, CA: The Ruptured Road

Image Source: Business Insider

This sinkhole appeared in 1998 just off of Interstate 15; it occurred as a result of a ruptured pipe beneath the surface. This crippled the local businesses for months until they could fix the situation. One man even drove into the sinkhole as he drove by in the dark and the rain, he survived, however his car did not.

San Francisco, CA: The Broken City

Image Source: The Week

This image, from 1995, shows the remnants of a mansion, and some houses, that were swallowed by a 40ft sinkhole. This sinkhole occurred as a result of heavy rain breaking the soil beneath a century old sewer, which was under construction at the time. The city had to cough up a hefty sum to sort this all out.

Mexico: Cave Of Swallows

Image Source: Reddit

This sinkhole, found in San Luis Potosi is over 1200 ft deep, and the largest (known) cave shaft in the world. This has become a popular location for adventurers and extreme sport fanatics. The name of the sinkhole comes as the bird, the Swallow can be found living on the sides of the cave walls.

Ottawa: Sunken Road

 Image Source: CBC

During construction of the Confederation Line, officials were forced to close a large segment of this road after it collapsed during excavations. They were forced to keep the road closed for over four years, except for necessary vehicles like delivery, buses, taxis and emergency services; it finally opened again in 2020.

Florence, Italy: Buried Cars

Image Source: ABC News

This sinkhole, in the picturesque city of Florence swallowed over 20 vehicles on the riverside! The Arno River has always been a very popular tourist destination, but I can't imagine that this is the sort of thing they had planned to go and see during their day trip!

Chile: Copper Sinkhole

Image Source: ABC7

This sinkhole really worried Chilean authorities, as it appeared overnight in a mining area in the north of the country. The land was actually owned by Canadian company Lun.To who were mining copper in the area. They found the sinkhole reached 656ft to the bottom and the bottom contained water.

Crete, Greece: Mountain Sinkhole

Image Source: Cretan Beaches

This sinkhole is prehistoric in nature, although scientists aren't 100% sure, they suggest its between 2.58 million an 11,700 years old. Just a brief period then. It's popular in tourists travels to Greece, as it is found at the foot of Mount Stroumboulis.