Massive Florida sinkhole swallows at least three trucks
A pair of large sinkholes swallowed at least three trucks outside an Orange County, Florida business Wednesday.
One of the holes is at least 27 metres wide, CNN reports.
Nobody was injured in the incident, but the area has been cordoned off.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has launched an investigation to determine if the holes are in fact sinkholes or are fractures that were caused by something else.
WHAT IS A SINKHOLE?
Weather Network science writer Scott Sutherland says sinkholes form following a combination of "water, erosion and time":
As water flows through the ground, it filters its way through the grains of dirt, rock and sand in the top soil and even through the grains of the underlying bedrock. If that bedrock is made of something like gypsum, limestone or dolomite, the water can wear it away, simply by dissolving away some of the sediments that make up the rock. This can take a long time with normal water, but with constant or repeated exposure, this can carve large holes and even extensive cave systems through the bedrock. If the water happens to be acidic, however, such as from absorbing carbon dioxide before it trickles down through the top-soil, this can dramatically speed up the process.
