Giant sinkhole opens up in New Zealand
By: Nicole
A giant sinkhole, the length of two football fields and the depth of a six-story building, has opened up on a farm in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty.
While sinkholes are common in the area, the size of this one has excited the science community with volcanologist Bradley Scott calling it “pretty spectacular.”
“What I see in the bottom of the hole is the original 60,000-year-old volcanic deposit that came out of this crater,” explains Scott. “It’s related to high intensity rainfalls. It’s not a new process, it’s been happening for a long time and we can expect it to happen again in the future.”
Sinkholes are caused by water dissolving limestone below the surface of the earth.
