Residents in West Bandung Regency, West Java, were surprised by the appearance of mysterious hole 10 meters deep in the rice fields. The phenomenon of the emergence of the hole was discovered on Monday (30/5) morning.
Initially, residents living in Cigondok Village, Mandalamukti Village, Cikalongwetan District, heard a rumbling sound at around 04.00 WIB. The sound made people come to see the hole.
The mysterious hole is one meter in diameter and 10 meters deep.
The head of the West Bandung Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Duddy Prabowo, said residents who were curious to hear the roar coming from the rice fields immediately left their homes and looked for the source of the sound.
After searching for the source of the sound, it turned out that there was a hole in the hole with a diameter of approximately one meter and a depth of about 10 meters.
“Information from residents the incident occurred at around 04.00 WIB on Monday morning. This is part of a rare natural phenomenon,” said Duddy, Tuesday (31/5).
Given the fear of further movements and the hole getting bigger, the residents took the initiative to bury the mysterious hole.
“Finally, the hole was closed again, using soil and loose material. So now the hole has been closed again,” said Duddy.
Meanwhile, Head of the Geodesy Laboratory of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Heri Andreas explained, mysterious holes like the one in Cigondok Village are known as sinkholes or holes in the ground caused by erosion and water drainage.
“There is soil that sinks later from its round shape, which is a typical sinkhole, it appears due to erosion and underground water drainage,” said Heri.
The sinkhole itself is formed when a layer of lime that is underground to a certain depth, dissolved by water that seeps from the soil at the surface. Later, the limestone layer will become an underground water channel or an underground river.
The lime dissolved by the water then forms an empty space under the ground. This is because at that point there is no support so the top layer of soil sinks to the bottom.
“In the Padalarang area, as we know, there is a layer of lime on the ground. So, it is possible that the hole in Cikalongwetan is a sinkhole but it is small in size,” said Heri.
“In some countries where the technology is advanced, the sinkhole is usually injected. But in our case, the average is backfilled and that’s the right step,” added Heri.
(isn)
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