CBS News

Golfer survives falling 18 feet down sinkhole:

Just think of all of the possibilities that could lead up to sink holes.

Underground running water that has found its least resistance and erodes the dirt in it’s path as it is flowing. There are millions of underground streams and lakes.

Sewer breaks, where the ground around the sewer washes into it.

Abandon mines; there has to be thousands of them through the world.

Anytime there has been any material extracted from the sub-surface there is a void created. It could have been coal, gold, natural gas, copper or any other material that was mined or pumped out. Under the right circumstances this void loosens the earth above it and eventually a sink hole is created.

It doesn’t matter if it is in a paved surface, under a structure or in an open field.

There was an incident years back when a company was drilling for oil in a lake and misjudged their bore hole location. They bored right into an abandon mine. This created a gigantic whirl pool and emptied the entire lake with all of the boats in it right into the mine.

On November 20, 1980, when the disaster took place, the Diamond Crystal Salt Company operated the Jefferson Island salt mine under the lake, while a Texaco oil rig drilled down from the surface of the lake searching for petroleum. Due to a miscalculation, the 14-inch (36 cm) drill bit entered the mine, starting a chain of events which turned what was at the time an almost 10-foot (3.0 m) deep freshwater lake into a salt water lake with a deep hole.
Anytime there is a void created subsurface by drilling, mining or from a water leak there is a possibility of a sink hole.

Be careful of where you walk, drive, build a house or even on a golf course. You may wind up 50 feet deep looking out of a sink hole; that is if you survive the fall.

Might as well go live in a tree house but there may be a void under it.