Alternative Title
NCKRI Symposium 2: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst
Files
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Publication Date
May 2013
Abstract
pg(s) 273-277 A cluster of aquifer drawdown-induced sinkholes developed in eastern Hillsborough County, Florida (west-central Florida), during two major freeze events in 2010. The sinkholes resulted in millions of dollars in losses and caused us to revise our thinking about how sinkholes form in a terrain normally considered to have low sinkhole risk owing to thick, clay-rich cover. The cover material consists of the Miocene Hawthorn Group, which includes up to 120 m of interfingering expansive clay, sand and sandy clay, and carbonate strata. The lower Hawthorn Group Arcadia Formation is primarily carbonate and is up to 90 m thick. The upper Hawthorn Group Peace River Formation contains more clay and sand with minor amounts of carbonate and is up to 30 m thick. The Hawthorn Group constitutes an effective aquitard for the underlying upper Floridan aquifer (UFA), which is composed of karstic, Oligocene and Eocene limestone and dolostone. A rapid drawdown of up to 20 m in the potentiometric surface of the underlying UFA resulted in mobilization of water-saturated clays and clayey sands within the Hawthorn Group. Subsidence and possible clay consolidation resulting from dewatering and loss of support/buoyancy caused development of new sinkholes and reactivation of clay-filled sinkholes that had developed as early as the Miocene Epoch. Stable, clay-filled, relict sinkholes of apparent Miocene age discovered in an earlier investigation in the same area in 1998-1999 support the presence of clay-filled, relict sinkholes in the area. Combining information gathered from study of these modern and relict sinkholes presents evidence of sinkhole development mechanisms in the thickly covered karst of west-central Florida. Open Access - Permission by Publisher See Extended description for more information. Update @ 8:38.
Type
Conference Proceeding
Publisher
University of South Florida
Identifier
K26-01269
Recommended Citation
Upchurch, Sam B.; Dobecki, Thomas L.; and Scott, Thomas M., "Development of sinkholes in a thickly covered karst terrane NCKRI Symposium 2: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst" (2013). KIP Talks and Conferences. 44.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_talks/44
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