From GIANT mines; to a strange, forgotten hidden paradise; these are 10 BIGGEST Holes on Earth !
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10.Umpherston Sinkhole
9..Kimberly Hole
Located in South Africa; the Kimberly Hole is believed to be the largest hole excavated by hand. No dozers; no giant machinery; just sheer manpower.
What was the incentive to dig a hole this big ? To NO ONE’s surprise; it was the discovery of diamonds. Between 1871 and 1914 miners extracted over 5,900 lbs (2,700 kg) of diamonds. Or wait; should we say it in carats? Well it's 13,500,000 Carats.
This hole is pretty big, boasting a nice 1500 ft (463m) wide size. It was dug to a depth of 240 meters (790 feet) but then refilled with debris reducing its depth to about 215 meters (705 feet).
8.Kola Superdeep borehole
7.Mirny Diamond Mine
This is a former open pit diamond mine located in the Siberian region of eastern Russia. It is 1700ft 525 meters deep and has a diameter of 3,900 ft 1200 meters making it the 4th largest excavated hole in the world.
Diamonds were first discovered on June 13, 1955 by soviet geologists during the large Amakinsky expedition in Yakut. They found traces of Kimberlite volcanic rock that is usually associated with diamonds.
The development of the mine happened in extremely harsh climate conditions. During winter months, the temperatures were so low that the ground would freeze making it hard to mine. How bad did it get?
There were reports that steel and car tires would just SHATTER and the oil needed top operate machinery would freeze overnight. Somehow, even in those conditions, there were people willing to excavate diamonds, and the company actually made a profit.
6.Crveno jezero
5.Bingham Canyon mine
This hole is commonly known as Kennecott Copper Mine among the locals and was designated a national historic landmark in 1966. It is an open pit mining located at Salt Lake County in Utah. It is the largest man-made open pit excavation project in the world and it is estimated to have produced more copper than any other mine in history,or about 19 million tons.
If it were a stadium, it could seat 9 million people.
Even though it is a copper mine, it has yielded a wide range of byproducts like gold, silver, molybdenum and large amounts of platinum and palladium. It has been nicknamed the rich hole on earth because it extracts approximately 450,000 tons of rock daily. And earns US$ 1.8 billion dollars per year.
4.Great Blue Hole Belize
3.Diavik Mine
This diamond mine was constructed in 2001 and commenced production in January 2003. It is located in the Northwest Territories in Canada about 300 kilometers from Yellowknife. It is an important part of the regional economy employing 1000 workers and producing 1,400 kilograms of diamonds annually.
The mine has three Kimberlite pipes currently being exploited. Unfortunately, the mine is expected to run out of diamonds in 2024, even after developing a fourth pipe expected to begin production in 2018.
The mine sits above a mantle- a downward protruding thickened portion of the lithosphere- where relatively low heat-flow and reducing conditions have remained suitable for diamond formation and preservation for an extended period of geologic time.
Another mysterious feature of this mine is the high proportion of coated crystals; the gem-quality diamonds that have been overgrown with younger cloudy rims. Recently, a study showed that the rims represent a much more recent growth phase of diamond in the deep mantle keel.
At the site, summers are short and cool while winters are long and extremely cold and this area is considered an arctic semi desert. Daylight ranges from about four hours a day in the winter to as many as 20 hours per day during summer.
In other words; perfect conditions.
2.Hoyo De Cimarron
1.Heavenly Pit, Xiaozhai Tiankeng
The sinkhole was discovered in 1994, it is located in Fengjie County of Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China. It has a diameter of 2000ft(626m) long, and with a depth of 2100ft(662m), this sinkhole is the largest one in the world !
Due to collapses of the walls surrounding this beauty; the rainy season is a sight to behold. Many waterfalls form around it.
Heavenly pit formed some 10,000 years ago when a powerful underground river, which still flows underneath the sinkhole, formed the Triassic limestone Difeng cave that collapsed and in turn formed the sinkhole. The bottom of the sinkhole is the only location where the underground river shows.
1285 species of plants can be studied here; also animals like the clouded leopard have been found in the sinkhole. So make sure you bring your clouded leopard pepper spray.
0. The “Ooops” Sinkhole | Florida
