
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Sinkholes are holes that suddenly appear in the ground. They can be any size but some are enormous. Some have swallowed cars, parts of buildings and even people. There are terrifying videos online of football pitches being sucked into the ground, or the resulting huge circular chasms in the middle of cities. They are found all over the world but some parts of the world are more prone to them than others.
In this episode BBC climate and science reporter Esme Stallard answers our questions about what causes them - and whether you can predict if one is going to happen.
In China, the sink holes there are actually different from the rest of the world. Devra Willingham, from the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in the US, tells us why and what it’s like to go into one.
And we examine if climate change is making sinkholes more common.
Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld
By BBC World Service4.2
1515 ratings
Sinkholes are holes that suddenly appear in the ground. They can be any size but some are enormous. Some have swallowed cars, parts of buildings and even people. There are terrifying videos online of football pitches being sucked into the ground, or the resulting huge circular chasms in the middle of cities. They are found all over the world but some parts of the world are more prone to them than others.
In this episode BBC climate and science reporter Esme Stallard answers our questions about what causes them - and whether you can predict if one is going to happen.
In China, the sink holes there are actually different from the rest of the world. Devra Willingham, from the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in the US, tells us why and what it’s like to go into one.
And we examine if climate change is making sinkholes more common.
Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld

11,027 Listeners

7,575 Listeners

526 Listeners

1,796 Listeners

1,756 Listeners

1,046 Listeners

518 Listeners

382 Listeners

71 Listeners

319 Listeners

252 Listeners

269 Listeners

47 Listeners

24 Listeners

100 Listeners