The Xiaozhai Tiankeng stands as the textbook example of what happens when karst processes are given perfect working ...

Karst areas are made up of sinkholes, underground streams, caves, and springs that normally serve as a natural stormwater sewer. Excess water drains into sinkholes, then into underground cave ...

The ceilings therefore collapsed to the bottom, opening up the enormous sinkholes. China's tiankeng are unique, according to Zhu Xuewen, a researcher at the Institute of Karst Geology at the ...

Sinkholes are part of a karst landscape that forms when soft, soluble rocks, such as limestone or dolomite, dissolve with water. The soluble limestone and dolomitic rocks, combined with melting snow ...

The USGS calls areas like this "karst terrain." According to the USGS, about 20 percent of U.S. land is susceptible to sinkholes. The most damage from sinkholes tends to occur in Florida ...

forming underground caves and cracks called karst formations (Figure 2a). Further erosion of bedrock along the cave ceilings caused collapses leaving visible sinkholes. Figure 2b shows areas of on ...