Sinkholes in Florida

[Lucille]

The first I heard that this was a problem was several days ago when someone on a forum was talking about wanting to move to a place with warmer winters but had decided against southern Florida because of the sinkholes.
I guess every state has its challenges, from earthquakes to hurricanes.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/sinkholes-why-so-frequent-florida-20130813

 

[j_dunlavy]

I'll take the occasional 5-7 point earthquake in exchange for mild winters, no tornadoes and no hurricanes. Now the 9 point earthquakes that they have in Japan, Sumatra, Alaska, etc, are something to fear.

 

[WebSlave]

Well, I've been living here in north Florida since 1991 or so, and never had even a little sinkhole to deal with.

How many earthquakes have been in California since that time?

Here's a map showing earthquakes in just the past 7 days across the USA.

 

[j_dunlavy]

we have earthquakes everyday, most are too small to be felt; I don't even consider it an earthquake worth mentioning unless it is nearing 5 points or so. The last one I felt was the Alum Rock area earthquake that happened in 2006 or so.
The funny thing is that many people on the east coast think they are immune to earthquakes. Some think Californians are crazy to risk living in earthquake territory and are afraid to live out here as a result. The Virginia earthquake was a reminder that they do happen all over, even if it is a long time in between quakes.
If I am not mistaken, northern Florida was not part of the limestone formation that dissolves and leads to sinkholes.

In the grand scheme of things, the ground we live on is a moving, evolving structure. No matter where we choose to live we just have to accept that the ground we are living on will eventually swallow up whatever sits on the surface in one way or another.

 

[WebSlave]

we have earthquakes everyday, most are too small to be felt; I don't even consider it an earthquake worth mentioning unless it is nearing 5 points or so. The last one I felt was the Alum Rock area earthquake that happened in 2006 or so.
The funny thing is that many people on the east coast think they are immune to earthquakes. Some think Californians are crazy to risk living in earthquake territory and are afraid to live out here as a result. The Virginia earthquake was a reminder that they do happen all over, even if it is a long time in between quakes.
If I am not mistaken, northern Florida was not part of the limestone formation that dissolves and leads to sinkholes.

In the grand scheme of things, the ground we live on is a moving, evolving structure. No matter where we choose to live we just have to accept that the ground we are living on will eventually swallow up whatever sits on the surface in one way or another.

Not true. There are sinkholes all around here. There is a HUGE one just a couple miles north of me right at the Wakulla/Leon county line.

As for earthquakes, yes, they CAN happen just about anywhere. But the odds are that they will be much more frequent where historical evidence of past ones has provided evidence of where known fault lines exist.

Heck, you could pick a place with a rock solid geography, far from where hurricanes make landfall, and outside of typical tornado activity, and you could STILL just have bad luck...

 

[j_dunlavy]

Not true. There are sinkholes all around here. There is a HUGE one just a couple miles north of me right at the Wakulla/Leon county line.

Heck, you could pick a place with a rock solid geography, far from where hurricanes make landfall, and outside of typical tornado activity, and you could STILL just have bad luck...

Like I said, I was not certain about the sinkhole thing.

The recent meteor in siberia was an incredible reminder that we are small potatoes; next one could be a direct hit... I wonder if my home owners insurance policy covers meteor impact...