Thursday, April 16, 2009

7 world amazing hole

When we think of holes, most of us think of digging a hole to plant a flower, drilling a hole to finish a construction project, or even hitting a hole in one at the next golf outing. There are places in the world, however, that give the word ?hole? a whole new meaning. These holes are so large it would be hard to believe they were real if you weren?t able to see them.
Kimberley Big Hole, South Africa

Kimberley Big Hole


Kimberly Big Hole, located in South Africa, was a diamond mine over 1,097 meters deep. The mine was closed in 1914 but was later reopened as a tourist attraction. The site is now a major tourist attraction, featuring a bar, small hotel, shops, and eateries - all in the same area that these things would have been located while the mine was active. Workers will be dressed in period garb and visitors will have the opportunity to participate in a simulation complete with dynamite blasts and dusty explosions ? all designed to give visitors a feel for what it was like living in mine town. More picture...



Glory Hole ? Monticello Dam, California

Glory Hole at Monticello Dam

The Glory Hole at Monticello Dam is a man made hole designed to help drain water from the reservoir. The sheer size of the hole allows it to drain over 14,440 cubic feet of water every second ? yes, that?s every second! Water that is drained through the hole is shot out at the bottom of the dam. Rumors claim that a woman jumped down the hole thinking she would come out the other end but never lived to tell the tale ? I?ve seen no proof, so take that story or leave it. More picture...



Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah

Bingham Canyon Mine

The Bingham Canyon Mine is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, in the Oquirrh Mountains. It is owned by Rio Tinto Group, an international mining and exploration company headquartered in the United Kingdom. The copper operations at Bingham Canyon Mine are managed through Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation which operates the mine, a concentrator plant, a smelter, and a refinery. The mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in the creation of a pit over 0.75 miles (1.2 km) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covering 1,900 acres (7.7 km²). According to Kennecott, it is the world's largest man-made excavation.[3] It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 under the name Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine. More picture...


Great Blue Hole, Belize

Great Blue Hole

The Great Blue Hole is a large underwater sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, over 300 metres (984 ft) across and 125 metres (410 ft) deep. It was formed as a limestone cave system during the last glacial period when sea levels were much lower. As the ocean began to rise again, the caves flooded, and the roof collapsed. Believed to be the world’s largest feature of its kind, the Great Blue Hole is part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). More picture...


Mirny Diamond Mine, Serbia
Mirny Diamond Mine

Mir Mine (Russian: Кимберлитовая алмазная трубка "Мир"; English: kimberlite diamond pipe "Peace") is an abandoned open pit diamond mine located in Mirny, Eastern Siberia. The mine is 525 m deep and has a diameter of 1200 m.[1] It was the first[2] and one of the largest diamond pipes of the USSR. Mir Mine was discovered on June 13, 1955 by Soviet geologists Yuri Khabardin, Ekaterina Elagina and V.Avdeenko during the large Amakinsky Expedition in Yakut ASSR. It was operated for almost 50 years, finally closing on April 30, 2004[3]while in operation, Mir Mine gave out 2 million carats annually. It takes trucks close to 2 hours to drive from the bottom to the top. More picture...



Diavik Mine, Canada
Diavik Mine

The Diavik Diamond Mine is a diamond mine in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Yellowknife. It has become an important part of the regional economy, employing 700, grossing C$100 million in sales, and producing 8 million carats (1600 kg) of diamonds annually. The area was surveyed in 1992 and construction began in 2001, with production commencing in January 2003. It is connected by an ice road and Diavik Airport with a 5,235-foot (1,596 m) gravel runway regularly accommodating Boeing 737 jet aircraft. More picture...


Sinkhole in Guatamela
Sinkhole in Guatamela

A rupture in the underground stormwater drain system opened a huge sinkhole on February 23 2007, killing three people and bringing down twelve houses in Guatemala City.

Teenagers Irma and David Soyos and their father, 53-year old Domingo Soyos were killed when their house collapsed into the sinkhole. Nearly a thousand people were evacuated from the San Antonio neighborhood after the collapse. More picture...

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