Well...today's the day. The picture in the link below, from nesn.com, shows a fairly large sinkhole that just opened up at a Jack Nicklaus-designed Top of the Rock golf course near Branson, Missouri.
Sinkhole in Branson, Missouri
Sinkholes are a curious site to most. They rare in many areas, especially where the bedrock is highly resistant to erosion. However, in areas with underlying soft sediments, and/or unconsolidated materials, groundwater can easily go to work and dissolve pockets of the subsurface away.
The result is caverns that are hidden below thin layers of overburden. We usually don't know they exist until the roof (the ground we are walking or living on) collapses and leaves a gaping hole.
Many are filled with the water that has infiltrated the soft ground, ironically at times being the one thing that holds caverns up, and the deciding factor in their collapse when it leaves.
The geology of the eastern American states of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Missouri is highly prone to sinkholes. The bedrock is mostly composed of the easily dissolvable types of soft sediment, such as limestone, gypsum, and halite.
Geologists refer to this as "karst" and some will remember that karst type caves are the sites of the common icicle or mound growths -the stalactites and stalagmite accumulations of carbonate rock we see.
This sinkhole is about 80 feet wide and 30 feet deep, an average size.
One thing's for sure, it's one hole that for golfers, will be hard to miss.
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