[Geology2] Re: Samara, the Russian city being ‘eaten alive’ by giant sinkholes

I got home and did some more reading: Samara aka Kuybyshev lies on the oxbow/ bar/ braid stream pattern. Even though it is far from the Arctic Ocean. (Note the multiple overlapping cutoff lakes and ponds. in the map link) I doubt this is karst bedrock nor are these sink holes like any in the US at all. I think the city was built on loose delta deposits where water freely flows between the unconsolidated gravel. A strong earthquake could easily put this city below the water table by liquafaction.

Here is the Google map link:
<https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.202778,50.140833&spn=0.1,0.1&t=m&q=53.202778,50.140833>

There are several places with these same city names including several referring to Alcoa, to coal mining and of course to a "lost" gold mine. One of the photos did look like a mine subsidence but this town is so close to the water table I don't see how the one hole could look so dry. Interesting situation and I feel for the folks there. Apparently there has been a major exodus of the population in the past few years owing to the city falling apart.

Eman




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