Here's yet another reason not to sink our future into fossil fuels. A 900 hundred foot wide, 260 foot deep sinkhole crumbled away near the Texas oil town of Daisetta, Texas. (That's 275 meters long and 80 meters deep). Oil equipment, ladders, telephone poles and even trucks have been caught in the down swell of dirt. Like most problems, it started small and then suddenly the ground gave way. Fortunately, no one has been hurt.

The Usual Suspects Why did the ground suddenly drop 260 feet deep? Although there is no official explanation (other than some wags saying, "Because that's Texas for you"), the extensive drilling for oil in that area is considered a prime culprit. It is thought that the land was sitting on top of an old salt dome, where underneath rested oil brine ("oil mud") and natural gas. This creates a series of underground holes. It's kind of like trying to scoop out the center of a cake and then repair the damage with icing. (What – you haven't done that before?) After years of mining, it is thought the ground just couldn’t take it and collapsed. See You Later… But there may be some good to come out of this really big hole that Texas has found itself in. Groundwater is seeping in to the hole and it looks like it's transforming into a lake. Even an alligator has moved in. The sides are 30 feet high, but the wily reptile is reportedly having no trouble scaling the walls to get in and out of the lake. There is some concern about what looks like crude oil patches coming up on one side of Mother Nature's newest lake. It is hoped that it won't kill off the alligator or any other species that wants to move in. However, the alligator is wisely staying on the side of the lake furthest from the suspected Texas Tea. Right now, no one can go in or out of the lake for fear that even more ground would suddenly give way. Well – that and the Texas-sized alligator in the water waiting for them.