What is limestone swallow hole?
What is a swallow hole? A swallow hole is a place where a stream or river disappears underground into limestone rock.
Are sinkholes and swallow holes the same thing?
Solution sinkholes have sides that vary from gentle slopes to almost vertical, while their shapes include saucer-like hollows, cones, cylindrical potholes and shafts. Streams or rivers may enter a sinkhole and disappear underground. This type of sinkhole is often called a swallow hole.
What is a swallow hole in geography?
Definition: A natural depression or hole in the Earth’s surface, also known as a sink, shake hole, sinkhole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, it is mostly caused by karst processes – the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffusion processes for example in sandstone.
What type of rock are swallow holes and caves with stalactites and stalagmites found?
limestone
Caves – These are found when a stream flowing down a swallow hole has dissolved a large area underground. Deposits of limestone hanging down from the ceiling are called stalactites; those found rising from the floor of a cave are called stalagmites.
What causes holes in limestone?
A sinkhole is a hole in the ground that forms when water dissolves surface rock. Often, this surface rock is limestone, which is easily eroded, or worn away, by the movement of water. In a landscape where limestone sits underneath the soil, water from rainfall collects in cracks in the stone.
How does a limestone swallow hole formed?
Swallow holes form on the limestone bedrock of a river. The constant flow of water makes the limestone vulnerable to weathering. This is because Limestone is a permeable rock. This means that water can seep or travel down through it.
What causes limestone pavement?
The Limestone pavement is the most impressive external landform seen here. It was formed when the slightly acidic rain passed through the soil (rotting vegetation and organisms) making it even more acidic, this rain would then pass onto the underlying limestone and begin to erode it.
How do sinkholes form in limestone?
How do sinkholes form? Rainfall percolating, or seeping, through the soil absorbs carbon dioxide and reacts with decaying vegetation, creating a slightly acidic water. That water moves through spaces and cracks underground, slowly dissolving limestone and creating a network of cavities and voids.
Does groundwater dissolve limestone?
Carbonate Dissolution Carbonate rocks such as limestone, composed mostly of the mineral calcite (CaCO3) are very susceptible to dissolution by groundwater during the process of chemical weathering. Such dissolution can result in systems of caves and sinkholes.
How are swallow holes formed in limestone?
Surface water passes over impermeable rock until it reaches permeable limestone. The water passes over the limestone and erodes vertical joints to form swallow holes. Over time the swallow hole increases in size as the result of erosion (often by solution when slightly acidic water chemically weathers the limestone).
What is limestone pavement in geography?
A limestone pavement is a large flat area of exposed limestone rock that has had its soil cover removed. Limestone is a well-jointed rock and as rainwater (weak carbonic acid) settles in the joints in the rock it may dissolve the rock.
How are limestone potholes formed?
Potholes/swallow holes Surface water and rain do not flow far on exposed limestone as they rapidly infiltrate into the rock and soil. Where a joint or intersection of joints has been greatly weathered or dissolved, water can pass down through the limestone.
What are swallow holes in rocks?
Swallow holes (which some people call potholes) are on the top surface of rocks that allow water to pass through. Mostly commonly these are limestones. The water dissolves the limestone, making the hole bigger.
How was the Malham Tarn swallow hole formed?
The swallow hole has been formed as the result of chemical weathering along a joint in the limestone bedding plane. Water Sinks, a swallow hole close to Malham Tarn.
What is a swallow sinkhole?
Swallow holes are sinkholes down which a river or stream disappears via a fissure or shaft to join the subterranean drainage system below. In the Yorkshire Dales, however, swallow holes may form wide, vertical shafts known as potholes, leading to extensive cave systems. Also, what causes a sinkhole to form?
What is limestone scenery above ground called?
Limestone scenery above ground (karst scenery) includes: Swallow hole. Surface water passes over an impermeable rock until it reaches permeable limestone. The water passes over the limestone and erodes vertical joints to form swallow holes.