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?
In: 7
The problem is thinking like an oil resivoir is an inflated balloon underground. Think of it like a soaked sponge and you are sucking the water out. The oil or water is coming out of the gaps between the rocks and sand and clay particles, but the “chunky bits” stay behind and help hold up the ground above.
If there are large empty pockets, like water dissolving a salt deposit, there could be a pocket that could collapse.
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