A road on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales has been closed after a sinkhole was discovered beneath its surface on Wednesday 30 September 2020. Engineers from Swansea Council attended the site after the south Gower Road near the turnoff for Oxwich after a dip was observed in the road, and discovered a void beneath the road described as being 'as large as three terraced houses'. The closure of the road is likely to have an adverse impact on local businesses which are already suffering a sharp downturn in trade due to the Covid-19 epidemic, although one business owner has observed that if they were going to be forced to close due to a geological problem, this was probably a better time to do it than when they were trading at full capacity,
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.
The Gower Peninsula is known to be prone to sinkholes, although these generally occur on farmland. The peninsula is essentially composed of a series of faulted and folded Devonian-Carboniferous rocks that were deformed during the collision of the ancient continents of Avalonia and Laurentia. The majority of these rocks are Carboniferous limestones easily eroded by water percolating through them, leading to the appearance of sinkholes.
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