Guatemala Sinkhole Echo

image-550x220-sink-guatDate: Feb. 23, 2007  & May 30, 2010.
Location: Guatemala City, Republic of Guatemala.
Coordinates: 14°39′1.40″N 90°29′25″W. Depth: 100 m. (330 ft).
Hole Dimensions: 500-yard (457-metre) no-go zone around the sinkhole.
Cause: Sewage pipe ruptures.


The 2010 sinkhole in Guatemala City. 11 avenida A and 6 calle, Zona 2. Photo by: Simon Burchell.
One of the most famous sinkholes in the media was the Guatemala City sinkhole. But which one was exactly most famous?

The picture of a large gaping hole in the ground, next to a few houses. This happened twice in the same city. First in 2007 and later in 2010. Many mainstream news outlets used the same picture to report both; the 2007 sinkhole and the one in 2010.

This type of visual reporting can cause of form of time echo in the collective mind. You can look on the internet for the news reports on both sinkholes, 2007 and 2010 in Guatemala City. But it seems that some pictures have been changed or removed. The 2007 hole and the one in 2010 look the same on other pictures.
On some pictures the area around the hole is a bit different.

The size of the sinkhole was huge. The probably cause was human hands and not natural. The region around the sinkhole was made up of pumice fill, a material from past volcanic eruptions.

Lots of times, volcanic pumice originates as a flow [of loose, gravel-like particles], and because of the heat and the weight, it becomes welded into solid rock,

Source: nationalgeographic.com

If you take a look at the pictures in the news you can see how clean the inside of the hole is. It looks like it was melted in some way. Of course this is just an impression from the photo's. The depth of this sinkhole is impressive.

 

 

Coat of arms of Guatemala.
Coat of arms of Guatemala.

 

On May 30, 2010, a massive sinkhole "crashed into being" in Guatemala City, Guatemala, killing at least one man and swallowing an entire three-story building. The hole, which measured about 60 feet wide and 30 stories deep, may have been months or even years in the making. But experts suspect Tropical Storm Agatha, which swept through the country and dumped more than 3 feet of rain water, was likely the final trigger. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Source: theweek.com/