Wonder
Yogoluk Sinkhole
In short
One of largest sinkholes in the world is Yogoluk Sinkhole (Gua Yogolok) in Papua province, northern side of Wamena valley.
41.8%
GPS coordinates
Location, address
Alternate names
Depth
Volume
Map of the site
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In detail
This area is rich with karst features – here are known more than 50 caves, often adorned with amazing speleothems. In Wamena karst are found several giant sinkholes as well, reaching up to the size of tiankeng (a giant sinkhole, at least 100 m deep and wide).
Yogoluk Sinkhole has formed by the collapse of a roof of giant cave room – in image is seen how the cave continues – or there is even a giant natural arch to one side (see here). On the floor of this sinkhole, there still is approximately 80 m high pile of debris.
Yogoluk Sinkhole has approximately 180 m wide and long opening with area 25 000 m2. Depth of sinkhole is 230 – 240 m, volume – 4 million m³.
References
- Tony Waltham. Tiankengs of the world, outside China. Speleogenesis and Evolution of Karst Aquifers. The Online Scientific Journal.
Yogoluk Sinkhole is included in the following article:
Linked articles
Wonders of Indonesia
Indonesia is a true land of wonders. There are few other countries in the world that can offer a similar array of diverse, unique, and beautiful natural and cultural monuments.
Sinkholes
This category includes outstanding sinkholes – large natural depressions or holes, which for most the part represent collapsed caves.
Caves
Every year there are reported exciting discoveries of new caves and discoveries of new qualities such as cave paintings in the ones known before. But there still is a feeling that our knowledge covers just a small part of all these monuments of nature.
Though, those which are known to us, offer a surprising diversity of unusual features and impressive sights.
Recommended books
Brief History of Indonesia
Indonesia is the fabled “Spice Islands” of every school child’s dreams—one of the most colorful and fascinating countries in history. These are the islands that Europeans set out on countless voyages of discovery to find and later fought bitterly over in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.
Savage Harvest
On November 21, 1961, Michael C. Rockefeller, the twenty-three-year-old son of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, vanished off the coast of southwest New Guinea when his boat capsized. He was on a collecting expedition for the Museum of Primitive Art, and his partner — who stayed with the boat and was later rescued—shared Michael’s final words as he swam for help: “I think I can make it.”