Russian City Ever Watchful Against Being Sucked Into Earth

Jeremiah Cornelius writes "Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the most expensive apartment ever sold in New York City — the $88 million penthouse at 15 Central Park West — and did much for local real estate values. But in Berezniki, the mining city where he made his fortune, properties have literally been plunging. 'Imagine putting a sugar cube in a cup of tea,' Mikhail A. Permyakov, the chief land surveyor for Uralkali, the company that owns the mine. 'That is what happened under Berezniki.' Berezniki is afflicted by sinkholes, hundreds of feet deep, that can open at a moment's notice. So grave is the danger that the entire city is under 24-hour video surveillance. In 2008 a government commission cleared Mr. Rybolovlev of wrongdoing, blaming past unsafe practices for the sinkholes. A senior official close to Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin says that Mr. Rybolovlev bears some responsibility, even though he sold the mine after the occurrence of the first great openings."

Comments

Centurion South Africa

[flyingfsck]

Sink holes are quite common in many places around the world. There are no mines under Centurion, yet a sink hole occurs multiple times per year in the dolomite areas.

Sinkholes

[Jukeman]

Hate to break environmental wackos ideas ,but; some truth, sinkholes are common in nature without coal fires or mines. Florida, has more than most people can count and more every year, other States also. Underground rivers dissolve limestone, then collapse. Here is a link to wise up them that need to be learned. http://www.dep.state.fl.us/geology/geologictopics/sinkhole/florida_sinkhole_poster.pdf Also, old lava tubes/tunnels can collapse causing sinkholes.

Re:Sinkholes

[Anonymous Coward]

In areas where sinkholes occur naturally, mining can make the problem much worse. Gold mining on the Far West Rand in South Africa caused a drastic lowering of the water table in the dolomitic limestone overlying the rocks containing the gold reefs, and this reactivated more less dormant solution cavities and led to an increase in the rate of formation of sinkholes at the surface. One of the worst was at the West Driefontein mine, where the crusher plant and a number of workers were lost. eeg.geoscienceworld.org/content/7/3/281.abstract

Re:Sinkholes

[datapharmer]

As a Floridian, I can tell you this is made worse by water bottling operations, mining, bad agricultural practices and pollution. While they do occur naturally doing things that erode the limestone (acidifying the soil) or lower the water table (the water helps holds it all up!) really makes it more prevalent. Last year there were many sinkholes that opened up on the same day - all within about a 10 mile radius of the water bottling plant. Sure, you could say that could be a coincidence, but it isn't. This can be observed time and time again.

Re:We have the same problems in this country

[turkeyfeathers]

Corporate profits always come first. Coal fires are a problem in some areas and at least one town had to be abandoned since the fires can last for decades and possibly centuries.

Citation needed. The fire that eventually resulted in the abandonment of Centralia, PA, was started when a fire at the local garbage dump ignited a natural coal seam that lay near the surface. Evil mining companies had nothing to do with the fire. Don't blame job-creating business owners and corporations for natural disasters... blame your choice of either Mother Nature or God.

Re:We have the same problems in this country

[moortak]

Centralia is only the best known coal fire in the US. Some are not mine related, some like Laurel run PA are. Centralia is a mix. The fire was started at a landfill, but that landfill was located in an abandonded strip mine. The natural coal seam wouldn't have been near the surface had it not been for the mine.