A 30ft sinkhole has swallowed a car in High Wycombe, from the photos
there's no water at the bottom so it can't be an underground stream. I
don't think there's any mines around there. So what caused the sink hole?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-26010192

On Sunday, 2 February 2014 23:22:17 UTC, Joe Egginton wrote:
A 30ft sinkhole has swallowed a car in High Wycombe, from the photos

there's no water at the bottom so it can't be an underground stream. I

don't think there's any mines around there. So what caused the sink hole?



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-26010192

Fairly common in any severe volcanic spell.
Usually in such spells there is also a plethora of flood stories.
The rest, as they say, is natural history.

On 02/02/2014 23:22, Joe Egginton wrote:
A 30ft sinkhole has swallowed a car in High Wycombe, from the photos
there's no water at the bottom so it can't be an underground stream. I
don't think there's any mines around there. So what caused the sink hole?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-26010192


2.1
Location, Topography & Geology

High Wycombe lies within the Wycombe District in the southern half of
the County of Buckinghamshire. The modern parish of Wycombe comprises
the old borough of Chepping Wycombe and the rural parish of High
Wycombe. Chepping Wycombe lies in the valley of the River Wye with
modern settlement expanding to the south up the hill into West Wycombe
and Great Marlow parishes and to the north up Amersham Hill as far as
Hazelmere parish. The modern extent of the town also expands east as far
as Wycombe Marsh and west up to West Wycombe village.
Chepping Wycombe is a linear settlement formed along a major road from
Oxford to London where it parallels the path of the River Wye. The
borough lies in the base of the valley floor at a height of
approximately 70m OD (Ordnance Datum). Modern settlement then rises in
the north to a height of 175m OD at the top of Amersham Hill and to a
height of 155m OD at the top of Cressex south of the borough.
The principal bedrock geology of High Wycombe comprises Middle Chalk
formation along the path of the River Wye surrounded by Upper Chalk
formation across the rest of the settlement. The overlying superficial
deposits mainly comprise alluvium along the path of the River Wye and
clay with flints across the tops of the ridges.
The Soils Survey Layer (Cranfield, 2007), surveyed at a county level,
classifies the soil along the path of the river as seasonally wet loam
over gravel (Soil Series 8.12 Calcareous alluvial gley soils). The soils
to the south of the loam as far as Wycombe Abbey is classified as
shallow loam over chalk (Soil Series 3.43 Brown rendzinas) with further
areas of shallow silt over chalk around Sands to the west of the town
and around Amersham Hill to the north (Soil Series 3.43 Brown
rendzinas). Two further bands of deep loam over clay are also projected
around Daws Hill to the south and Totteridge to the north (Soil Series
5.82 Stagnogleyic paleo-argillic brown earths).

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/media/1305...mbe_report.pdf

Chalk and Portland Limestone under water-logged clay, so anything's
possible.

jim, Northampton

On 02/02/2014 23:32, Weatherlawyer wrote:
On Sunday, 2 February 2014 23:22:17 UTC, Joe Egginton wrote:
A 30ft sinkhole has swallowed a car in High Wycombe, from the photos

there's no water at the bottom so it can't be an underground stream. I

don't think there's any mines around there. So what caused the sink hole?



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-26010192

Fairly common in any severe volcanic spell.

Since when have there been any volcanoes in Bucks?


--

Paul Hyett, Cheltenham

On 02/02/2014 23:22, Joe Egginton wrote:
A 30ft sinkhole has swallowed a car in High Wycombe, from the photos
there's no water at the bottom so it can't be an underground stream. I
don't think there's any mines around there. So what caused the sink hole?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-26010192

Horizon BBC2 tonight on the geologically caused ones, tonight
This one probably like the numerous "sink holes" around Reading, due to
prehistoric flint mines collapsing , see Grimes Graves

"N_Cook" wrote in message
...
On 02/02/2014 23:22, Joe Egginton wrote:
A 30ft sinkhole has swallowed a car in High Wycombe, from the photos
there's no water at the bottom so it can't be an underground stream. I
don't think there's any mines around there. So what caused the sink
hole?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-26010192

Horizon BBC2 tonight on the geologically caused ones, tonight
This one probably like the numerous "sink holes" around Reading, due to
prehistoric flint mines collapsing , see Grimes Graves

I believe the police are looking into it........

RonB

On Mon, 3 Feb 2014 09:07:22 +0000
Malcolm wrote:

They may or may not occur where there are volcanoes, but that is surely
irrelevant in 21st century High Wycombe! The two commonest causes are
old mine workings and the dissolving of limestone or sometimes sandstone
by the action of water.

The owner of the house was interviewed on R5 this morning, and said that
it was an old chalk mine. The house itself was on a concrete raft,
which could now be seen through the hole.

Some strata of chalk have been used for building stone in the past. My house
is built from it, known locally as "clunch".



Mike

On Mon, 3 Feb 2014 10:37:25 -0000
"ron button" wrote:


"N_Cook" wrote in message
...
On 02/02/2014 23:22, Joe Egginton wrote:
A 30ft sinkhole has swallowed a car in High Wycombe, from the
photos there's no water at the bottom so it can't be an
underground stream. I don't think there's any mines around
there. So what caused the sink hole?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-26010192

Horizon BBC2 tonight on the geologically caused ones, tonight
This one probably like the numerous "sink holes" around Reading,
due to prehistoric flint mines collapsing , see Grimes Graves

I believe the police are looking into it........


The same ones who, when investigating the theft of a load of
Viagra, were on the lookout for a gang of hardened criminals?


--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. Mail: 'newsman' not 'newsboy'.
The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write
with. - MARTY FELDMAN

On Monday, 3 February 2014 10:57:03 UTC, Graham P Davis wrote:
On Mon, 3 Feb 2014 10:37:25 -0000

"ron button" wrote:
Shouldn't that be "hard-on" criminals, Graham?




"N_Cook" wrote in message

...

On 02/02/2014 23:22, Joe Egginton wrote:

A 30ft sinkhole has swallowed a car in High Wycombe, from the

photos there's no water at the bottom so it can't be an

underground stream. I don't think there's any mines around

there. So what caused the sink hole?



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-26010192



Horizon BBC2 tonight on the geologically caused ones, tonight

This one probably like the numerous "sink holes" around Reading,

due to prehistoric flint mines collapsing , see Grimes Graves



I believe the police are looking into it........





The same ones who, when investigating the theft of a load of

Viagra, were on the lookout for a gang of hardened criminals?





--

Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. Mail: 'newsman' not 'newsboy'.

The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write

with. - MARTY FELDMAN

On 03/02/2014 09:07, Malcolm wrote:

In article ,
Weatherlawyer writes
On Sunday, 2 February 2014 23:22:17 UTC, Joe Egginton wrote:
A 30ft sinkhole has swallowed a car in High Wycombe, from the photos

there's no water at the bottom so it can't be an underground stream. I

don't think there's any mines around there. So what caused the sink
hole?



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-26010192

Fairly common in any severe volcanic spell.
Usually in such spells there is also a plethora of flood stories.
The rest, as they say, is natural history.

They may or may not occur where there are volcanoes, but that is surely
irrelevant in 21st century High Wycombe! The two commonest causes are
old mine workings and the dissolving of limestone or sometimes sandstone
by the action of water.


I’m no geologist, thinking about it rationally.
The weight of the clay probably has something do with it. Limestone
being porous there must be more air in it, than clay which can soak up
water like a sponge. The limestone may have been compressed. Also, the
heavy clay on top of the limestone, will raise the water pressure going
through the limestone.