Prestwich sinkhole under investigation
TOM HARVEY-JAMES FROM GROUNDSURE DISCUSSES THE REOCCURRING ISSUE OF SINKHOLES AS A BUSY JUNCTION IN PRESTWICH, GREATER MANCHESTER WILL REMAIN SHUT FOR AT LEAST TWO DAYS, WHILST AN INVESTIGATION AND SUBSEQUENT REMEDIAL WORKS ARE UNDERTAKEN FOLLOWING YET ANOTHER SINKHOLE (1) IN THE TOWN.
It is possible the cause is attributed to the areas underlying geology.
The district is built on a mixture of sand, gravel, silt and clay. As a result, damaged water infrastructure like leaking drainage systems can cause these glacial deposits to wash away beneath the surface. This creates voids or cavities at depth which allows the water entering them to flow more freely and become more erosive, speeding up the process and making the void larger. Over time soil above these sands and clays can collapse into the void, eventually migrating to the surface creating “sinkholes”.
This is not uncommon to see in areas with this geological makeup. Our comprehensive sinkhole database records that in 2016, approximately 140 meters south of the junction, another sinkhole was seen to affect Heywood Road (represented by the red diamond), with the cause attributed to a collapse within an old sewer.
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References:
Tom Harvey-James, Groundsure.
