Sinkholes resulting from ground-water withdrawals in carbonate terranes–an overview

Abstract

Numerous sinkholes resulting from declines in the water table due to ground-water withdrawals in carbonate terranes have occurred in the eastern United States and elsewhere. In Alabama alone, it is estimated that more than 4,000 of these sinkholes, areas of subsidence, or related features have formed since 1900. Almost all occur where cavities develop in residual or other unconsolidated deposits overlying openings in carbonate rocks. The downward migration of the deposits into underlying openings in bedrock and the formation and collapse of resulting cavities are caused or accelerated by a decline in the water table that results in (1) loss of buoyant support, (2) increase in the velocity of movement of water, (3) water-level fluctuations at the base of unconsolidated deposits, and (4) induced recharge. Damage due to sinkhole activity related to ground-water withdrawals has resulted in a variety of studies utilizing available scientific methods. These studies indicate that identifying the terrane in which the activity most commonly occurs and limiting large withdrawals of water from it will eliminate or minimize the problem. The terrane, youthful in nature, exhibits little karstification, is usually a lowland area, has a water table above or near the top of bedrock, and contains perennial or near-perennial streams.

Sinkhole susceptibility mapping in Marion County, Florida: Evaluation and comparison between analytical hierarchy process and logistic regression based approaches

“…Factors like karst topography 17,39 , surficial geology 16,24 , soil permeability 46 , proximity to the flow channels or drainage networks 8,17 , groundwater withdrawal 47 , depth to the water table 9,48 , mining activity 49 , the thickness of overburden 20 , recharge of aquifers 50 etc., are thought to influence the formation of sinkholes. For this study, proximity to closed topographic depression (karst topography), surficial geology, soil permeability, proximity to the flow channels/drainage networks, and the proximity to the active mines were considered as the predisposing factors for sinkhole formation.…”

“…The scale of the study, data unavailability for the whole study area (e.g., the thickness of overburden, aquifer recharge), and associated costs to collect these data restricted predisposing factors in our model to relatively few. Future works should, therefore, emphasize the inclusion of other predisposing factors like groundwater withdrawal 47 , depth to the water table 9,48 , thickness of overburden 20 , and recharge of aquifers 50 to develop robust models for this region. Since human activities influence factors like groundwater withdrawal, depth to water table, and recharge of the aquifer, including these factors in the sinkhole modeling approaches would take into account variabilities introduced by urban sprawl in sinkhole occurrence and distribution 68 .…”

Geologic setting, character, and potential hazards for evaporite-related sinkholes in Eagle and Garfield Counties, northwestern Colorado

“…Three general conditions are needed to produce upward caving of a soil cavity to the surface: (1) there must be a continued wetting or repeated wetting of the soils (2) there must be a downward flow of groundwater into the open solution slot and (3) groundwater circulation must be vigorous enough to remove the accumulated rubble (Sowers, 1996). Vigorous vertical groundwater circulation has resulted in sudden sinkhole collapse in the eastern United States and in Africa as a result of water table lowering by pumping (Newton, 1984).…”

“…This implies that a relatively long time has passed since the sinkholes initially reached the ground surface. In carbonate terranes sinkhole development can be linked to water table lowering and increased groundwater recharge (Newton, 1984;Sowers, 1996). In northwestern Colorado, river incision that produced the outwash terraces would have resulted in water table lowering and increased groundwater circulation at several times during the Pleistocene.…”

Sinkholes related to discontinuous pumping: susceptibility mapping based on geophysical studies. The case of Crestatx (Majorca, Spain)

“…The sometimes intensive exploitation of karstic aquifers tends to accelerate the processes of rock dissolution, as well as a wash away of the fine materials (mainly clay), which fill the cracks and fissures. As a result, the cavities in the rocky substrate gradually increase in volume, diminishing the land's carrying capacity and triggering local subsidence depressions and sinkholes on the surface with a predominant vertical component (Newton 1984;Higgings and Coates 1990). The literature is rife with cases of collapses due to groundwater withdrawals, causing the decline in the piezometric level of the aquifer (Metcalfe and Hall 1984;Bengstsson 1987;Chen and Xiang 1991;Panno et al 1994;Tihansky 1999;Tharp 2002;He et al 2003), but not many examples of these processes linked to large seasonal fluctuations in the piezometric level exist, leaving the karstified area in the vadose and saturated zone of the aquifer in a cyclical way.…”