Post by Sharon Faulkner on Mar 22, 2007 22:24:50 GMT -5
A Hole for a Hole, Searchers track sinkhole
Volunteers find culprit gulping water from historic stream.
By David Blymire
March 22, 2007
Conservationists are confident they found the source of a sinkhole that had been gulping down water from storied LeTort Spring Run.
They converged on the site Wednesday, just downstream from Union Quarries’ operation off Bonny Brook Road in South Middleton Township, in the hope of locating the sinkhole’s thirsty source.
By midday, a large backhoe had uncovered the culprit about 50 feet from the water’s edge — some porous bedrock.
“You could see the cracks in the bedrock through which the water was flowing,” says Jim Richenderfer, a hydrologist who directed the morning’s search, adding “those are the signs we’re looking for.”
Conservationists representing Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited and LeTort Regional Authority, using donated equipment and materials, expected to go back to the site this morning to begin constructing a grout plug made of concrete and bentonite, a clay-like substance that expands when wet.
www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/03/22/news/news770.txt
Volunteers find culprit gulping water from historic stream.
By David Blymire
March 22, 2007
Conservationists are confident they found the source of a sinkhole that had been gulping down water from storied LeTort Spring Run.
They converged on the site Wednesday, just downstream from Union Quarries’ operation off Bonny Brook Road in South Middleton Township, in the hope of locating the sinkhole’s thirsty source.
By midday, a large backhoe had uncovered the culprit about 50 feet from the water’s edge — some porous bedrock.
“You could see the cracks in the bedrock through which the water was flowing,” says Jim Richenderfer, a hydrologist who directed the morning’s search, adding “those are the signs we’re looking for.”
Conservationists representing Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited and LeTort Regional Authority, using donated equipment and materials, expected to go back to the site this morning to begin constructing a grout plug made of concrete and bentonite, a clay-like substance that expands when wet.
www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/03/22/news/news770.txt