UKC

All features of Limestone areas, but what is the difference between them?

Can't remember back to my A-Level Geography . . .

In reply to Eskdale massive:

Shake hole - a depression or crater formed when the underlying rock has collapsed. Usually found in areas where the prevailing rock is limestone.

In reply to Flatlander:

okay, so are swallow holes in limestone too? From the little reading I have just done they are in areas of chalk where the chalk swallows surface water . . .

In reply to Eskdale massive:

Isn't it something to do with regions ie they call them sink holes in Yawkshire, shake holes down South?

In reply to Eskdale massive:

getting there:

Occasionally, hollows are created on the surface of limestone. They form where drift material falls into joints which have been enlarged and widened by chemical solution. The hollows are called dolines or shake holes.

The shake hole is then eroded by streams and a vertical hole known as a pothole or swallow hole is formed. These holes can, in turn, be enlarged by heavy rainfall or glacial meltw*ter. Gaping Gill, in the Yorkshire Dales, is an example of an enlarged swallow hole.


all we need now is sink holes . . .

In reply to Eskdale massive:

sink holes texas style, nice website, feel like its a Geology study by the US equivalent if the BNP . . .

http://www.rootsweb.com/~txwinkle/7-2002-sink.htm

or much nicer:

http://www.lastrefuge.co.uk/filmlibrary/tepuis_filmlog/aerial_sink_hole.htm

In reply to Eskdale massive:

I was always under the impression that the main characteristic of a swallow hole was that it 'swallowed' as stream - ie it was a hole where the surface stream entered the limestone.

In reply to Alii:

Shouldn’t you know, or do they not teach that to third year geography students :-P

In reply to TopOut:

Wrong Ali??

In reply to Eskdale massive:

From 'Geological Science' by Andrew McLeish:

"Streams may disappear into swallow or sink holes... Dolines are depressions formed by dissolving of the limestone or by the collapse of cave roofs."

Seems to suggest that swallow and sink holes are the same thing.

In reply to Alii:

Your not a female 20 year old blond undergrad are you?

Sorry.

My advice, try and find the other Ali.

In reply to Eskdale massive: Shake holes are usually found when caves collapse near to the surface swallow holes and sink holes are the same thing, depending on where you come from (sink holes in the US usually, on OS they are called swallow holes)

In reply to Eskdale massive: A swallow hole forms when a stream running over a limestone area reaches a weakness or joint in the rock which it then runs down, eroding the joint further to form a hole. A sinkhole is a cicular depression in the landscape into which water drains and collects in limestone regions, often connected with an underground cave system. A shakehole is the same but is formed by the collapse of limestone strata.

Basically I think all threee terms can be used synonymously but their formation may differ slightly - depends how specific you want to be.

Oh and I think that was GCSE geography, though to be honest, I only knoew the swallow hole and looked the others up in my geographical dictionary!

In reply to Eskdale massive:

An interesting idea, but there are better plaes to dispose of a body.

In reply to John Rushby:

but it is beginning to smell

In reply to Eskdale massive and Rushby: I knew you two where trying to kill me! I knew it!!