Florida Sinkhole and Other Headline Makers (Photos)

Florida sinkhole: Sinkholes, like the one that swallowed a man in his Florida bedroom on Feb. 28, are usually caused by the chemical dissolution of rocks like sandstone. They may form very slowly or quickly, and at times are hastened by human activity like a burst water main.

Workers usemachinery to fill in a sinkhole that buildings collapsed into near a subway construction site in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, on Jan. 28, 2013.

Debris in a sinkhole that buildings collapsed into near a subway construction site in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province. The hole measured about 1,000 square feet across and was around 30 feet deep, but no one was killed, according to a state media report. 

A construction crew removes part of the road on Fifth Avenue after a water main break in the Flatiron District in New York City on Feb. 1, 2013. 

Louisiana’s massive sinkhole, near Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou on Nov. 25, 2012. 

An aerial view of sinkholes created by the drying of the Dead Sea on the sea’s western shore near Kibbutz Ein Gedi in Isreal on Nov. 10, 2011. The Dead Sea is one of the sites candidate of another 28 sites in an international online campaign voting to select the new Seven Wonders of World Heritage Sites.

A man inspects a sinkhole inside a house on July 19, 2011, north of Guatemala City, Guatemala. When neighbors heard a loud boom in the night, they thought a cooking gas canister had detonated. They instead found a deep sinkhole the size of a large pot inside a nearby home. The sinkhole was 12.2 meters (40 feet) deep and 80 centimeters (32 inches) in diameter. 

Workers use excavators to fill in a sinkhole that formed during the night on Shiliuzhuang Road, in Beijing on April 26, 2011. A section of the road collapsed beneath a truck, slightly injuring the driver and passenger, who both jumped out the vehicle before it sank into the hole.

A truck lies in the sinkhole that formed during the night on Shiliuzhuang Road, in Beijing on April 26, 2011.

A sinkhole caused by a broken water main collapsed part of Friendship Boulevard in Chevy Chase, M.D., swallowing a car on Dec. 3, 2010. No one was injured in the accident.

A massive sinkhole, approximately 200 feet by 240 feet, opened up and tore apart the pavement of Soledad Mountain Road on Oct. 3, 2007, in the Mount Soledad neighborhood of La Jolla near San Diego, Calif. The landslide reportedly damaged or destroyed 6 homes and forced the evacuation of at least 20 others.

A 42,000-pound Los Angeles Fire Department firetruck protrudes from a sinkhole on Sept. 8, 2009, in the Los Angeles, Calif., community of North Hollywood. Firefighters were dispatched to a 6-inch cast-iron main under a residential street before sunrise. Upon approach, the firetruck driver saw a large amount of water in the darkness and was backing up when the truck fell into the ground. No firefighters were hurt in the accident.

Trucks lay fallen over the rubble of the collapsed Pinheiros metro station in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 15, 2007.

YouTube screenshot of a Florida sinkhole in this file photo.

The ground collapsed just outside a middle school in Tantuo Village of Nanning, Guangxi, China, in this file photo. Later, four nearby villages successively developed sinkholes of various sizes.