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    Sinkhole in A Cup

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    Ar Nhel DG
    1) This activity demonstrates how sinkholes form through the natural process of dissolution. Sugar represents limestone that dissolves when groundwater flows through. 2) Groundwater represented by water in a dish dissolves the sugar rock and causes the overlying sand surface to collapse into a sinkhole. 3) Only over the sugar deposit does a sinkhole form, as the sugar dissolves when contacted by groundwater below.

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    Sinkhole in A Cup

    Uploaded by

    Ar Nhel DG
    85 views1 page
    1) This activity demonstrates how sinkholes form through the natural process of dissolution. Sugar represents limestone that dissolves when groundwater flows through. 2) Groundwater represented by water in a dish dissolves the sugar rock and causes the overlying sand surface to collapse into a sinkhole. 3) Only over the sugar deposit does a sinkhole form, as the sugar dissolves when contacted by groundwater below.

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    Sinkhole in a Cup

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    1) This activity demonstrates how sinkholes form through the natural process of dissolution. Sugar represents limestone that dissolves when groundwater flows through. 2) Groundwater represented by water in a dish dissolves the sugar rock and causes the overlying sand surface to collapse into a sinkhole. 3) Only over the sugar deposit does a sinkhole form, as the sugar dissolves when contacted by groundwater below.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    85 views1 page

    Sinkhole in A Cup

    Uploaded by

    Ar Nhel DG
    1) This activity demonstrates how sinkholes form through the natural process of dissolution. Sugar represents limestone that dissolves when groundwater flows through. 2) Groundwater represented by water in a dish dissolves the sugar rock and causes the overlying sand surface to collapse into a sinkhole. 3) Only over the sugar deposit does a sinkhole form, as the sugar dissolves when contacted by groundwater below.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Name: Score:

    Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction

    Sinkhole in a Cup
    Activity Source:
    Adapted from Project Underground, A Natural Resource Education Guide

    Background
    Sinkholes are natural depressions in the land caused when limestone and soils dissolve. They form when groundwater removes
    rock underground. They can form by slow gradual sinking or by sudden collapse of an underlying hole.

    Sinkholes are common in about one quarter of the U.S. You can usually identify them as circular or oval low spots in fields that may
    gather standing water after rains. They can be small or larger than a football field. A sinkhole of any size indicates there was a cavity
    in the bedrock near the surface. Sinkholes are evidence of a subsurface groundwater, either in the past or present. Formation of a
    new sinkhole or continued collapse of an existing sinkhole, indicates present day groundwater.

    People can affect the location and rate at which sinkholes form. One way sinkholes form is by the removal of large amounts of water
    from the ground for human use, livestock, or irrigation. This may lower the water table rapidly. Because of the loss of the water, the
    land surface can collapse into holes already formed in the underlying limestone.

    Materials

     8 oz. foam cup


     scouring pad or very thin sponge
     empty 2-liter soda bottle
     sugar
     sand
     scissors
     piece of paper

    Procedure

    1. Make a hole about the size of your thumb in the bottom of the foam cup.
    2. Cut a circle the size of the cup bottom from a thin scouring pad. Place this circle in the bottom of the cup.
    3. Place a column of sugar in the center of the cup and surround it by sand. To do this, make a tube by rolling up a piece of paper and
    place it in the center of the cup. The paper tube should be about the same height and one half the diameter of the cup. Fill the inside
    of the tube with sugar and the outside of the tube with sand (the sand should be between the paper tube and the sides of the cup).
    Carefully remove the paper tube. Place a thin layer of sand over the sugar.
    4. Cut the bottom off a two-liter soda bottle at about the same height as the foam cup to create a dish. Fill it about one-third full of water.
    This will symbolize groundwater.
    5. Place the cup with the sugar and sand in the water. Watch as the water fills into the cup and the sugar dissolves and runs out. A
    sinkhole is formed in the cup as the surface sand sinks into the area where the sugar dissolved. (You may need to remove the cup
    from the dish of water to allow the water to drain out of the cup and the sinkhole to form).

    Questions

    1. What natural process is demonstrated as the sugar is dissolved by the water and the surface sinks?
    2. What type of rock does the sugar represent?
    3. What characteristics must a rock have to be suitable for forming sinkholes and caves?
    4. What does the water in the dish represent?
    5. Why did the sinkhole form only over the sugar deposit?

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