An unsettling natural hazard: Here's everything you need to know about sinkholes 

Sinkholes are surprisingly selective. They require the right rock, the right water chemistry, the right underground space and just enough time...

A large sinkhole opens in a parking area in Ocala, Florida, and swallows a car that teeters on the edge. File picture: June 11, 2017

The ground is not supposed to vanish. Yet every year there are reports of roads splitting open without warning, cars tilting nose-first into the Earth, and perfectly ordinary streets suddenly developing bottomless holes. One moment the landscape appears stable; the next, it is quite literally gone.

Sinkholes are among the most unsettling natural hazards because they offer no drama beforehand. No shaking, no rumbling, no obvious countdown. They seem random. Unfair. Almost targeted...