Sunday 28 October 2018

Propane gas truck swallowed by sinkhole in Jalisco State, Mexico.

A truck carrying highly dangerous propane gas became trapped in a near-vertical position after a sinkhole opened up beneath its rear end in the Conjunto Patria neighborhood of Zapopan City in Jalisco State, Mexico, on Friday 26 October 2018. Nobody was injured in the incident, but the truck's load had to be pumped into another vehicle before it could be extracted, a potentially hazardous operation, which required the evacuation of all buildings within 250 m.

Gas truck trapped in a sinkhole in Zapopan, Mexico, on 26 October 2018. Mexico News Daily.

Sinkholes are generally caused by water eroding soft limestone or unconsolidated deposits from beneath, causing a hole that works its way upwards and eventually opening spectacularly at the surface. Where there are unconsolidated deposits at the surface they can infill from the sides, apparently swallowing objects at the surface, including people, without trace.

However in this occasion the sinkhole is believed to have been caused by a ruptured water main, which washed away unconsolidated sediments beneath the road, leading to the collapse.

See also...

https://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/06/magnitude-60-earthquake-off-coast-of.htmlhttps://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/07/magnitude-57-earthquake-in-oaxaca-state.html

https://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/06/seven-dead-in-mexico-flooding.htmlhttps://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/02/magnitude-72-earthquake-in-oaxaca-state.html
https://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/02/landslide-destroys-almost-hundred-homes.htmlhttps://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2017/11/striking-miners-killed-in-clash-with.html
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