Sinkholes can cause the ground to open up without warning. How do they form?
WORD HUNT
In the article, find:
WORD HUNT
In the article, find:
Courtesy of WPRI
The Fall River school bus stuck in a sinkhole
On a cloudy morning last December, students in Fall River, Massachusetts, were riding the bus to school. You can probably picture it: Some kids chat excitedly about their favorite music. Others rush to finish homework before school starts. It was just like any other Friday. But then . . .
BOOM!
The bus jolted to a sudden stop. Was it a flat tire? Did the bus break down?
Not quite. One of the bus’s tires was stuck inside a large hole in the ground: a sinkhole!
It was a cloudy morning last December. Students in Fall River, Massachusetts, were riding the bus to school. You can probably picture it. Some kids chat about their favorite music. Others rush to finish homework before school starts. It was just like any other Friday. But then . . .
BOOM!
The bus stopped suddenly. Was it a flat tire? Did the bus break down?
No. One of the bus’s tires was stuck inside a large hole in the ground: a sinkhole!
Like Swiss Cheese
Many sinkholes are small and shallow, like puddles. But some can grow large enough to swallow up cars—and even entire buildings.
These pits form when water eats away at rock beneath the ground. Some types of rock, such as limestone, break down easily. Running water can make limestone holey, like Swiss cheese. Over hundreds—sometimes thousands!—of years, these underground holes become large enough that the ground’s surface grows weak and starts to cave in.
Sinkholes can open up suddenly, without warning. But let this sink in: Sinkholes that appear suddenly are rare. The chance of falling into one of these cavities is very slim.
Many sinkholes are small, like puddles. But some can grow big enough to swallow up cars. Some can even swallow entire buildings.
These pits form when water eats away at rock beneath the ground. Some types of rock, such as limestone, break down easily. Running water can make limestone holey, like Swiss cheese. It can take hundreds or thousands of years. But these holes can become big enough to make the ground weak and start to cave in.
Sinkholes can open up suddenly, without warning. But let this sink in: Sinkholes that appear suddenly are rare. The chance of falling into one of these cavities is very slim.
All Safe
Not all sinkholes form naturally. Human activity like drilling can also be to blame. In Fall River, the sinkhole was caused by a broken water pipe. Within a day, the water that flooded underground wore away the rock beneath the road. When the school bus drove on it, the pavement buckled and trapped the bus’s back tire.
Thankfully, no one was hurt. After the accident, a new bus picked up the students and got them safely to school. Whew!
Not all sinkholes form naturally. Human activity like drilling can also cause them. In Fall River, the sinkhole was caused by a broken water pipe. Within a day, water flooded underground and wore away the rock under the road. When the school bus drove on it, the pavement buckled and trapped the bus’s back tire.
Thankfully, no one was hurt. After the accident, a new bus picked up the students and got them safely to school. Whew!
PARAGRAPH POWER!
Write a paragraph to explain what sinkholes are and how they form.
PARAGRAPH POWER!
Write a paragraph to explain what sinkholes are and how they form.
This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue.
This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue.
