100 Giant Sinkholes Are Mysteriously Appearing in This Croatian Village

Just before the new year in 2021, the earth in a quiet area of Croatia began to act oddly. A near-perfectly round hole sprang out of nowhere in a garden in Meenani, a hamlet 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Croatia's capital city of Zagreb, measuring 30 meters (98 feet) broad and 15 meters (49 feet) deep.

Sinkholes are frequent in areas where the geology under the land surface contains limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that may be dissolved naturally by groundwater running through them. Underground chambers and caverns form as the rock degrades.

Sinkholes are spectacular because the land generally remains intact for a long time until the subterranean areas get too large. A rapid collapse of the ground surface can occur if there is insufficient support for the land above the gaps. As shown in this image, these collapses might be minor or large and can happen where a home or road sits on top.

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