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ARCHIVED - Cuenca villagers mystified by the appearance of sudden sinkhole
The 7-metre crater is getting larger as geologists investigate
Residents of the small rural municipality of Arcas in the province of Cuenca (population 1,600) have begun the new year mystified by the sudden appearance of a large hole in the countryside during the last few days of 2019.
Specialists from the Spanish Geological and Mining Institute have been sent to help the Town Hall investigate the phenomenon, consisting of a round crater approximately 6 metres across and 7 metres deep. In the meantime, locals report that the hole is actually getting bigger and threatening to affect one of the country roads in the area, two kilometres outside the centre of the village.
In attempting to explain what may have happened Mayor Joaquín González explains that the rock beneath the surface consists of limestone which may have fractured, causing the sudden appearance of an abrupt dip in the land (in which water has accumulated since it appeared). In the meantime, he and his colleagues have cordoned off the area to avoid accidents among curious onlookers, and residents of Arcas and Villar de Olalla have been asked to avoid using the road, with vehicles weighing over 3,500 kilos being banned.
In one sense, though, the residents are less surprised by this occurrence than might be imagined: after all, a year or so ago a similar hole appeared in the nearby nature reserve of Ballesteros. At that point geologists explained that this phenomenon is known as a “collapse sinkhole”, and is caused by karst processes (the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks) or suffosion processes (when loose soil lies on top of a limestone substratum containing joints into which the material is washed by rain and surface water).
Images: Town Hall of Arcas
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