About Sinkholes
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Sinkhole Solutions
Our local, American made product solutions will not only remediate your structure, but lift up the local economy.
Helicals:
Helical piers are ideal for applications where there is a need to resist both tension and axial compression forces. Read More
Underpins:
Steel underpinning is an effective solution that takes the load of the foundation system off the soft soils and extends it... Read More
Compaction Grouting:
Compaction grouting can strengthen soil that is weak or has broken apart over many years. Read More
Injection Piers:
Injection piers utilize both the underpinning and the compaction grouting method. Read More
Chemical Grouting:
Chemical grouting is mainly used in areas where shallow sinkholes have formed . Read More
About Sinkholes
How they form
A sinkhole is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks, such as sandstone. Sinkholes may vary in size from (3.3 to 2,000 ft both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. Sinkholes may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide. The different terms for sinkholes are often used interchangeably.
Formation mechanisms
Sinkholes common to Florida are formed by rainwater leaking through the pavement and carrying dirt into a ruptured sewer pipe. Sinkholes may capture surface drainage from running or standing water, but may also form in high and dry places in a certain location
The mechanisms of formation involve natural processes of erosion or gradual removal of slightly soluble bedrock (such as limestone) by percolating water, the collapse of a cave roof, or a lowering of the water table. Sinkholes often form through the process of suffosion. Thus, for example, groundwater may dissolve the carbonate cement holding the sandstone particles together and then carry away the lax particles, gradually forming a void.
Occasionally a sinkhole may exhibit a visible opening into a cave below. In the case of exceptionally large sinkholes, such as Minyé sinkhole in Papua New Guinea or Cedar Sink at Mammoth Cave National Park, USA, a stream or river may be visible across its bottom flowing from one side to the other.
Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone or other carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by circulating ground water. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. These sinkholes can be dramatic because the surface land usually stays intact until there is not enough support. Then, a sudden collapse of the land surface can occur.
Sinkholes also form from human activity, such as the rare but still occasional collapse of abandoned mines in places like West Virginia, USA. More commonly, sinkholes occur in urban areas due to water main breaks or sewer collapses when old pipes give way. They can also occur from the overpumping and extraction of groundwater and subsurface fluids. They can also form when natural water-drainage patterns are changed and new water-diversion systems are developed. Some sinkholes form when the land surface is changed, such as when industrial and runoff-storage ponds are created; the substantial weight of the new material can trigger an underground collapse of supporting material, thus, causing a sinkhole.