eli5: what happens to the areas that contain water and oil when we pump it all to the surface, why are there not sinkholes everywhere?
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Sinkholes also can occur in areas where massive underground mining ( for coal etc) has been done. For example here in the German Ruhr area megatons of coal have been mined out of the ground and big cities have developed directly over the mines ( people are lazy) about 150 years ago. Todays those cities struggle, because more and more old mines collapse and the floor settles.
But those sinkholes can also have natural reasons. In the region of Schmalkalden, Germany for example, was a natural, loose layer of soil under the houses. Experts believe, due to ground water and rain it was washed out, a big cavity has formed which then collapsed and created a big sink hole.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2010/nov/01/germany-sinkhole-crater-schmalkalden
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