Investigation of the impacts of local-scale hydrogeologic conditions on sinkhole occurrence in East-Central Florida, USA

Assessment of post-mining terrain suitability for economic use

“…In the paper Bathrellos et al (2012), it has been methodology proposed for integrated assessment of areas suitable for urban and light industry development, taking into account natural hazards as well as geological and geomorphological-geographical conditions of the research area. In the work Xiao et al (2016), a strong correlation was confirmed between the intensity of precipitation and the moment of sinkhole creation. It was also determined that the number of created sinkholes (areal density) increases linearly with the increase in aquifers water supply rate.…”

“…The problem is of particular importance in case of areas with a high degree of urbanization. For example, karst phenomena occurring in many countries in carbonate rocks may cause the formation of sinkholes, e.g., in Florida in the USA, which was described, among others, in Xiao et al (2016). The loss of stability of caverns existing at shallow depths may be caused also by seismic shocks, for example, in case of near Athens locations, presented in work Papadopoulou-Vrynioti et al (2013).…”

Sinkhole formation hazard assessment

“…The results of the study (Xiao et al 2016) indicate the relationship between the amount of atmospheric precipitation (and thus the water level in wells, reflecting the water level in the rock mass) and the number of newly formed sinkholes. The density of occurrence of sinkholes increases in a linear manner along with the rate of water being fed to the aquifers and the differences in water table levels.…”

“…One of the most common causes of formation of sinkholes is the collapse of voids which naturally occur (karst phenomena) in carbonate rocks (Gutiérrez et al 2013). The highest number of such sinkholes is observed in the American Florida state (Xiao et al 2016).…”

“…The research encompassed relatively large areas and as such, constituted a global approach to the assessment of this hazard. At the same time, it should be noted that the necessity to perform small-scale analyses of sinkhole formation hazard has also been indicated (Xiao et al 2016). An example of such an assessment for a single cavern may be found in Baryakh and Fedoseev (Baryakh and Fedoseev 2011), in which the range of plastic deformations around the cavern was determined by means of numerical methods.…”