Locations

Dolines occur in a variety of locations around the world. In this section we shall be discussing the locations of previous scientific research.

There is lots of scientific research into dolines across Spain such examples are in Zaragoza, North East Spain (Pueyo-Anchuela et al., 2010 and Iberian Peninsula (Aranburu et al., 2014). Even including the Ebro basin, Spain discusses how the process is still very active at this current moment within the karst landscape (Sorian & Simon, 1995; Pueyo-Anchuela et al., 2009). These have even been located around the Sorbas region of South East, Spain. These are however at a smaller scale (Sana et al., 2015).


Below are a Google Earth images and iconic sink holes around the world these have been broken down into multiple images to make it easier to observe.

Below is Africa, a large proption of these holes within Africa contain water. The Blue Hole in Dahab is considered to be very dangerous to divers due to the arch way contained within the doline.

The video below is of the Blue Hole, Dahab being free dived. It is so dangerous for recreational divers due to air consumption at 50m. 

The Google Earth Image is of iconic dolines in the Asia. 

 

The video produced by the Telegraph (2012) shows a doline in China swollowinga girl as she falls through the ground.

Dolines in the Caribbean

The video is of cave diving from the Caribbean and discusses the formation of these caves in Karst landscapes. Many of these could create dolines and many of these seem the entry point for such expedition. (Documentary TV, 2014).

 

Dolines in Central America including the two large events within Guatemala in 2007 & 2010.

 Iconic sinkholes within Europe. 

As can be seen many doline events have occurred within Northern America

Dolines frequently ocur around Florida due to the limestone disollution within the envrionment. Here is an example of a doline causing a collapse of a resort (ABC News, 2013)

 Dolines in Mexico

 Dolines in Oceania

 Dolines in South America

Formation

Dolines are widespread, and have a variety of names, including swallow-hole, swallet and sinkhole (Goudie, 1990). The term doline is derived from the Slavic word dolina, is largely used by European geomorphologists (Gutierrez et al., 2014). Sinkhole is most frequently used by North American geomorphologists and in the international literature dealing with engineering and environmental issues (Gutierrez et al., 2014).  For these articles we shall be referring to them as dolines. There shapes are conelike karst hollow forms with diameters ranging from a few metres to 100 metres wide, up to 10 metres deep or even greater  (Bonacci, 1987). There formation is frequently within karst landscapes. Karst landscapes are landscapes that show irregularities in surface rock form by rock dissolution (Freeze & Cherry, 1979).  Pueyo-Anchuela et al. (2010) describes the development of dolines through the dissolution of underlying evaporites. The distribution of dolines is that they are often in groups situated along lines of faults (Bonacci, 1987). Gutierrez et al., (2014) discusses that dolines display a wide range of morphologies (cylindrical, conical, bowl- or pan-shaped) and vary in size. Evolution of dolines depend on the velocity of the solution process, related to the minerals involved such as gypsum (Salvany, 2009) & the mechanical behaviour of the alluvial Quaternary cover (Pueyo-Anchuela et al., 2010).

Dolines occur in different forms such as subsidence doline and collapsed dolines (Goudie, 1990). Below is a diagram of three types of dolines. Please note collapsed dolines are sometimes more reported within the media. These images are from the USGS (2014).

Dissolution dolines:

The figure also gives a description on how they occur.

Figure 1: A dissolution doline (USGS, 2014)

Cover-subsidence sinkholes are the ones that most frequently take longer to be located. The USGS (2014) stated they tend to develop gradually where the covering sediments are permeable and contain sand. These cover materials may be thicker and tend to take longer to detect. Below in figure 2 it can be seen these processes and how they progress through the stages.

Figure 2:Cover-Subsidence Sinkhole (USGS,2014)

Cover-collapse sinkholes may develop abruptly and can cause large amounts of damage (USGS, 2014). Occur where covering sediments have large amounts of clay and overtime when it collapses creates a bowl-shaped depression (USGS, 2014). Figure 3 demonstrates the development of a cover-collapse sinkhole.

Figure 3: Cover-Collapse Sink Hole (USGS,2014)

Whilst in figure 4 it can show you a cover-collapse sinkhole within an urban environment such as the Guatemala sinkhole within 2010.

Figure  4: Sinkhole Guatamala (Kval,2014)

The video below represents a doline in the collapse phase within the natural environment.

The image below is of the video above it is adapted to potentially suggest the type of doling that occurs at this location.

The doline discussed above is potentially a solution doline which is connected to an underlying cave with the formation of a freshwater lake above. This doline created many hazards to the surrounding area due to previous land uses around the surrounding area. This is something to consider when reviewing doline formation in the sense what other factors could contribute or exacerbate the effects of these doline.

Dolines can also be modelled to try predicting the effects of dolines in specific areas (Kaufmann, 2014). This modelling can also be formed from looking at evidence from Holocene evidence that investigates dolines (Evelpdou et al., 2011). In comparison to modelling, some studies have attempted to assess the distribution of doline detection with cluster analysis (Shim et al., 2010). This modelling is largely very successful for the distributed detection.

The beginning

This website shall be discussing dolines in a number of sections throughout the blog. It is aimed at anyone interested in the underlying theories of doline formation.  Whilst also aimed at university students looking at dolines.

Below is a list of each weeks sections and any comments or questions please email 11029053@stu.mmu.ac.uk.

Outine of  each weeks section:

• Introduction to doline
• Formation
• Locations

i)  Frequent locations around the world

ii) Not as commonly known areas around the world.

Below is a video created by Ramon Llaneza exploring the depths of the Great Blue Hole, Belize. This is one of the many dolines around the world. We shall be introducing these in next weeks sections.

Video of diving the Great Blue Hole, Belize.

(Ramon Llaneza Technical Diving, 2013)

Interesting quick facts:

Biggest recorded- 662m deep and 626m wide. (The Independent, 2014)

Famous underwater dolines- Great Blue Hole, 124m deep. (The Independent, 2014)

Examples within the UK: 35ft hole opened up within a residential street. (The Independent, 2014)

Most recent sinkholes within media: Sinkhole swollows woman whilst hanging washing out. (BBC, 2014)

Next week is a introduction to dolines and there many names whilst describing there formation and the different theories . If you cant wait for next weeks edition watch this 52 minute documentary on Dolines 'Sinkholes Buried Alive' by Dolph Lundgreen (2015).

 

This is very useful as it gives an insight into doline formation and the hazards they pose in the real world.