This collection of images was originally posted on Listropolis.
Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds before being closed in 1914.
A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir. This is the ‘Morning Glory Spillway’ at Monticello dam, and it’s the largest in the world of this type of spillway, its size enabling it to consume 14,400 cubic feet of water every second.
This is supposedly the largest man-made excavation on earth. Extraction began in 1863 and still continues today, the pit increasing in size constantly. In its current state the hole is miles deep and 2.5 miles wide. Employing 1,400 people, 450,000 tons (408 kt) of material are removed from the mine daily. Electric shovels can carry up to 56 cubic yards (43 m³) or 98 tons (89 t) of ore in a single scoop. Ore is loaded into a fleet of 64 large dump trucks which each carry 255 tons (231 t) of ore at a time; these trucks cost about US$3 million each. There is a five mile (8 km) series of conveyors that take ore to the Copperton concentrator and flotation plant. The longest conveyor is 2.5 miles (4 km) long and passes through an existing railroad tunnel inside the mine.
This incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize. There are numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as this one. It is one of the most astounding dive sites to be found anywhere on earth. The Blue Hole is a perfectly circular limestone sinkhole more than 300 feet across and 412 feet deep.
Mirny Diamond Mine holds the title of largest open diamond mines in the world at 525 meters deep and a diameter of 1200 meters. There’s even a no-fly zone above the hole due to a few helicopters having been sucked in.
The mine is so huge and the area so remote that it has its own airport with a runway large enough to accommodate a Boeing 737.
After rumbling for weeks, part of a poor Guatemala City neighborhood plummeted some 30 stories into the earth swallowing a dozen homes and killing at least 3 people. Sinkholes can occur when underground rocks that can be dissolved by water—such as salt, gypsum, and limestone—are inundated. The removal of groundwater can also leave gaps underground that can lead to sinkholes.