Wednesday 19 February 2014

"British sinkhole spike prompts warning"

Woo hoo, everybody's into sink holes now, they've even finally got round to blaming them on Climate Change:

Britain is likely to face the strange and disturbing threat of more sinkholes opening up in the weeks and months ahead.

The warning comes from the British Geological Survey (BGS), which has been studying a recent spate of collapses across the country. In a typical year, geologists would expect to see one or two sinkholes appearing, but this month's tally has reached six so far...

Some rocks host networks of natural caverns while others are riddled with old mineshafts. Depending on the soil and rock suspended above of these cavities, a sudden incursion of water from heavy rainstorms can lead to massive strains and, ultimately, to collapse.

15 comments:

View from the Solent said...

Far more likely .. http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/sinkholes-are-badgers-revenge-2014021983755

Tim Almond said...

I know that the general thing of global warming can be demonstrated in a lab, and the feedback effects make sense as a general principle, but to me, the AGW fanatics have just become like old priests telling people that the droughts, floods or diseases are punishment from gods.

I think we're actually at a point with the science that is little better than where physics was around the time of Newton (who spent a decade trying to make alchemy work).

Mark Wadsworth said...

VFTS, can those little badgers dig that deep down? I live and learn.

TS, no it can't be demonstrated, it's nonsense. Pollution is bad. There are clearly some things like CFC's or acid rain or radioactive fall out which have provably bad effects,but this "CO2 greenhouse effect" does not exist.

Tim Almond said...

Increasing CO2 increases temperature. That can be demonstrated in a lab (google Global Warming Jar Experiment).

The problem for the AGW fanatics is that the amount of extra CO2 has a tiny effect on temperatures and their hypothesis relies on feedback effects which are highly questionable.

Mark Wadsworth said...

TS, I did, and that is one of the most flawed experiments I have ever seen.

Of course it's warmer in a greenhouse than outside, because warmer air is not constantly being replaced with cooler air. So inside the greenhouse is warmer but... the rest of the atmosphere is slightly colder.

And if you built a greenhouse round the greenhouse, the additional increase in temperature is minimal, it is not linear.

Finally, the "greenhouse effect" is a useful analogy to explain why the earth's atmosphere is warmer than it "should" be, but CO2 works quite different to a sheet of polythene or a pane of glass. It is not a physical barrier.

Here endeth.

DBC Reed said...

Its quite possible that a huge amount of rain does increase the number of sinkholes.Have you seen Hambledon: the rain has thoroughly saturated the chalk,so the water is just bubbling up through the ground? Dodgy bits of ground could give way.I know this conflicts with the everything is the fault of the Government , public sector etc. consensus that now operates.

Kj said...

Coming to the defence of the public sector even when someone hasn´t even thought in the direction of blaming it eh DBC. I´ve got to say your passion for the public sector and/or hatred of the private sector/invisible hand is a shining light for all of us.

Mark Wadsworth said...

DBC, of course running water/rain causes/exacerbates sinkholes, nobody says any different.

That's what makes them so scary!

Kj, I actually laughed out loud at that comment. Does that make me a bad person?

Kj said...

MW: probably, but with sinkholes popping up all over, clearly a sign of the apocalypse, it doesn´t matter that much.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Kj, the Global Warmenists missed a right old trick there. Instead of wailing about "sea level rises" they should have threatened us with sink holes.

Twenty years ago, we would have laughed at them, but right now we'd be panicking...

Kj said...

MW: indeed. But what would we have to stop doing, what excuses for intervention would we be served? How could this be angled as the fault of capitalism/consumer culture/the West/the rich?

Mark Wadsworth said...

Kj, stop driving cars, going on holiday, eating foreign food, heating our homes etc.

Alternatively: fill the things full of concrete and get on with our lives.

Pavlov's Cat said...

Dear Sirs

Surely if a sink hole has a spike in it , it is technically a Tiger Pit such as I used in dealing with 'The Man-eaters of Kanjepoor'

Yours

Blashingford 'Ducky' Snell-Patterson.
Colonel His Majesty's 4th Sepoy Rifles (Retired)

DBC Reed said...

I was n't implying that the blame the government,public sector consensus was in operation on this site (with the possible exception of Bayard and the EA)but the sinkhole provided by this comment was enough for MW and KJ to fall into it then bellow about not being able to go on holiday, eat foreign food etc.Not without a comedy element mind you.

Bayard said...

When have I ever blamed sinkholes on the EA?

"Increasing CO2 increases temperature."

On the same "good authority" I have it that the converse is also true, that rising atmospheric temperatures increases the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, so which came first, chicken or egg?