Post by jonsdigs on Nov 18, 2007 20:08:18 GMT -5
It's a sinking feeling
Sunday, November 18, 2007
By STEVE DOYLE
Huntsville Times
With our thirsty lawns,drought can also bring us quick-opening holes
North Alabama's 2-year-old drought may be causing more than just brown lawns.
Experts say the severe lack of rainfall has increased the risk of sinkholes, like the one that damaged an expensive home in Madison's Cambridge at Heritage Plantation neighborhood last week.
Although the problem in Madison has not been linked to the drought - city officials say it could just be soft soils and normal settling - dry times tend to be prime time for sinkholes, said Dr. Scott Brande, a geologist and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Rainfall keeps North Alabama's many underground limestone caves flush with water, which Brande said acts as a "load bearing material" to help support the weight of the soil and rocks above the caves. During droughts, he said, cave water levels tend to drop. If it drops enough to make the earth above collapse, a sinkhole is born.
Full Story
Sunday, November 18, 2007
By STEVE DOYLE
Huntsville Times
With our thirsty lawns,drought can also bring us quick-opening holes
North Alabama's 2-year-old drought may be causing more than just brown lawns.
Experts say the severe lack of rainfall has increased the risk of sinkholes, like the one that damaged an expensive home in Madison's Cambridge at Heritage Plantation neighborhood last week.
Although the problem in Madison has not been linked to the drought - city officials say it could just be soft soils and normal settling - dry times tend to be prime time for sinkholes, said Dr. Scott Brande, a geologist and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Rainfall keeps North Alabama's many underground limestone caves flush with water, which Brande said acts as a "load bearing material" to help support the weight of the soil and rocks above the caves. During droughts, he said, cave water levels tend to drop. If it drops enough to make the earth above collapse, a sinkhole is born.
Full Story
