In man’s search for mineral wealth, many enormous holes have been dug. In addition, nature occasionally produces some astounding holes. This list is a pick of the ten most spectacular natural or manmade holes in the face of the earth. Many thanks to rushfan for sending in the images for this list. Click the images for a larger view.
Chuquicamata is an open pit copper mine in Chile. It is the mine with the largest total production of copper in the world – though it is not the largest copper mine. The mine is over 850 meters deep.
The Udachnaya Pipe is a diamond mine in Russia. The owners of the mine plan to cease its operations in 2010 – in favor of underground mining. The mine was discovered in 1955 and is over 600 meters deep.
In 2007, a 300 foot deep sinkhole swallowed a dozen homes in Guatemala – killing 2 and causing thousands to be evacuated. The sinkhole was caused by rains and an underground sewage flow.
The Diavik Mine is a mine in the Northwest territories of Canada. The mine (opened in 2003) produces 8 million carats or about 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) of diamonds every year.
The Mirny Diamond Mine is 525m deep and has a diameter of 1200m. It was the first, and one of the largest, diamond Pipes in the USSR. It is now abandoned. While it was still operational, it would take two hours for trucks to drive from the top to the bottom of the mine.
The Great Blue Hole is an underwater sinkhole off the coast of Belize. The hole is 1,000 feet across and 400 feet deep. It was formed as a limestone cave during the last iceage.
The Bingham Canyon Mine is a copper mine in the Oquirrh mountains, Utah. The mine is 0.75 mile (1.2 km) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide. It is the world’s largest manmade excavation.
The Monticello Dam is a dam in Napa County, California, United States most noted for its large circular spillway with a rate of 48,400 cubic feet per second.
The Kimberley Diamond Mine (also known as the Big Hole) holds the (disputed) title of being the largest hand-dug hole in the world. From 1866 to 1914 50,000 miners dug the hole with picks and shovels, yielding 2,722 kg of diamonds. Attempts are being made to have it registered as a world heritage site.
In 1971, geologists discovered a massive underground deposit of natural gas on this site. Whilst excavating the hole to tap the gas, the drilling rig collapsed leaving a massive hole. To prevent poisonous gasses from escaping, the hole was allowed to burn. It continues to burn to this day and has done so without ceasing. You can see a video clip of it burning here.
I would say Natalie Portman should be number 1.
Hey everyone – sorry for not commenting before now – I am very sick with a stomach virus. I will be back to normal tomorrow hopefully.
what about Red Lake in Croatia which is 582m deep? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crveno_Jezero
Viva Chile!
Back in the Davis Cup finals grouping again this weekend (beat Oz), and now Chuquicamata on LV too. I have to cut in here on account of Anita (my wife) happening to be born at the border with Bolivia nearby while her dad was stationed at Chuqui (he was a copper mine supervisor). It’s often one of the sightseeing stop-offs in Atacama desert tours. Must get there myself one of these days.
OH My God!!! that is real nice list & so informative… I wonder how could men climb back into the surface
Stomach virus eh? Have you been eating too many lobsters?
You left Adelaide, that is Australia’s biggest hole, followed closely by Canberra.
Some amazing holes on the list. Thanks Jamie.
That Monticello spillway is just so freaky looking.
Googling a few others I found the following about Diavik. The Capital Cost of the Mine is $1.3 Billion, so I sure hope there are a lot of Diamonds there
Also found this pic of I think Mirny from a different angle which is if anything even more amazing.
http://pixdaus.com/single.php?id=8388
Cheers
Lee
Yeah chile in the top 10!!!!!
Chuquicamata is awesome
@ Ember
Yes you can have depth vertigo, I learned about it during my diving certification.
Can you have depth vertigo? If so I have it when looking at the picture of the Great Blue Hole. Great List though.
Awww I always feel proud when Chile get’s mentioned
Good, but I think I’ve already read this. Was it like…plagiarized from something, by any chance?
Should’ve called this the “Top 10 Amazing KNOWN Holes”…
Because there’s a of huge one on Mars that would push #8 and #3 off the list!
http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/evidence-reports/2007/121/mars-dark-hole.htm
Hmmm, that would make only 9… Maybe we could add that “Goatse” guy!! XD
Tyree: no – it is not plagiarized from something – though 7 of the images were sent in by a reader. I added the text and found 3 additional images.
Okay, sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend or anything, it just seemed very familiar.
Anderi: the only problem with that is that holes on Mars are not “holes in the Earth”.
Ah! But Mr Frater, that’s why I said “Top 10 Amazing Known Holes” and didn’t specify the planet…
Maybe I should’ve added “-In The Solar System”?… ;p
Courtney Love and her band.
did you know that the holes only natural enemy is the pile?
74. Anderi:
That’s freaking, while I won finish to swallow camming from that web. Can you link those images from NASA or any scientific source instead?
*shiver*
For some reason looking at these images strike deep mortal fear in me. The thought of falling in through the dark or swallowed into #3…*shudder*
Fabulous list!
Wow, really interesting. 5 creeped me out though.
After reading this list for the second time, I have only one thing to add:
Hol(e)y Moley!
imagine falling into one of those holes…like #5…
Great list! Lots of fun
beff (8)Yeah, I can name a few also.
Emmstein (10) I did giggle. That was funny. Taze me!
mark (38)That’s too funny!
mike (53) Hysterical!! Laughed out loud
67 Gezz – nice to see we’re on the same page with those “***** holes”.
is it me, or am i noticing exerpts from previous hole lists, i thought one of my ex’s should be on there
Oh Dis
Why u bother #52
dont u know your a has been?
a want not?
a deep hole among land fairing mudder lubers?
Oh Diogenes, my friend, my fair lad within
keep it to yourself and give no more
care not what happens herewithin
tis not the worrisome bother
the hole is a lack of and an abysmal twilightzone hourglass
yet, like a void absence pulling
a fathom into dangerous desires and a connection to the core.
Another amazing hole in the earth is the Berkely Pit in Butte, MT
Great list though.
This is a nice noncontroversial list. You could say it’s hole-some.
(hole-some/wholesome)
Darvaza Gas Crater is really hard to spot on Google Earth. But if you turn on the “night vision” you can see its light in the middle of nowhere! (that place is called Hell’s door!)
What about your mom’s holes?
I didn’t read all the comments, so I wonder how many times that joke has been made.
Freemont – i’d say your the first to make that comment, unlike you we have respect for each other and our families.
i want to jump into the dam…that looks neat
There is actually a large metal cage-like crate in the bottom portion of it. there have been people who have committed suicide by jumping down in it and being literally obliterated by hitting this cage.
I live about 20 minutes from the damn, and I was surprised this made the list, it never seemed that epic before, just something you drive by every day in the summer and never think about it.
94. Baker:…people who have committed suicide by jumping down in it and being literally obliterated by hitting this cage.
****
That sounds incredibly unpleasant.
Looking at the photo of the dam, I can’t understand how one would get close enough to “jump”, it looks as if one would be sucked into the hole!
They’re actually really pretty
100!
this is my favorite list. :]
The blue hole is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m afraid of pitch black/blue/any damn color and I’m afraid of water. [Let that note, look up my name, Marvin, as in look up what it means]. So combining the two, SCARES ZEH HELL OUT OF ME!
Amazing and Beautiful……..
WONDERFU8L AMAZING GREAT JOB KEEP IT UP CAPTIONING THE DEEPEST HOLE IN EARTH NOT ONLY THE ALL OF THE UNIVERSE
This is one of the most amazing lists I have ever seen, the first to make me speechless! Number three is absolutely beautiful and the burning crater is also very cool!!! Thanks!!
cool although i wanted man made hole
Chuquicamata FTW
t so great to see that
ilearned a lot of that topic…
its so amazing!!!!
monticello dam! woohoo! i’ve been visiting that since i was little, its right by my house. i can die happy now that i have a tenuous personal connection to one of the items on the listverse lists.
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
Wow, are those holes reaching until the Earth’s core? …this is so amazing! There are holes and water and land. I like the picture of the Monticello Dam.
very informative
Amazing photo
This list although really cool, is outdated. There was one huge sinkhole appeared in Bolivia last week, near the old one. It creeps me out…people in Bolivia, you better watch out!!!
It can be noted about #8 that a new sink hole emerged at a street corner in Guatamala after a recent rain storm and swallowed a couple house and cars, in 2010.
How scary would it be to swim over the blue hole alone
Good list and impressive photographs. Some of these are quite ominous.
Other such notable holes in the earth include Cennet y Cehennem (Heaven and Hell) in Turkey. I’ve been there and seen them and they are equally impressive.
You missed the actual number 1: Melbourne, Australia.
Estos si que son agujeros !!!
maza vishwas basat nahi
THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!:) I love it. I`m puting this in my favorites:)!!!!!!
What a great web log. I spend hours on the net reading blogs, about tons of various subjects. I have to first of all give praise to whoever created your theme and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an fabulous article. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only very few posses and honestly you got it. The combining of demonstrative and upper-class content is by all odds super rare with the astronomic amount of blogs on the cyberspace.
its great