CAUTION: There are lots of oil wells in the surrounding
area. Stay away from all oil equipment and pipelines!!!!! Do not
play on or around the equipment or allow children or pets near the
equipment. The equipment will start moving without warning and can
cause death or serious injury if you are on or near the equipment.
Pipelines can rupture and discharge oil and potentially deadly
Hydrogen Sulfide gas.
This cache is a medium sized container, cammo'ed to match the
surroundings.
In 1981, the bottom fell out of Winkler County, Texas.
Literally.
Out in the middle of the oil patch, a large chunk of the desert
collapsed. Overnight, the ground dropped over a hundred feet deep
and probably 300' across. Today, the sink is partially filled with
water.
The "Wink Sink" or the "Kermit Krater" was formed after ground
water had eaten away underground layers of limestone forming a
cavern. Over centuries or eons, the cavern enlarged until the roof
was too thin to support itself and collapsed.
These things are very common in wetter parts of the country, but
fairly rare out here in the desert. This type of geological feature
is known as "Karst Topography". I think the name comes from
somewhere in Europe where such sinkholes are common. If you have
ever been to Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell, NM, you have
seen examples of a similar process in gypsum and limestone.
Take a look at how close the Wink Sink is to the oil field
storage tanks across the road. Wonder how big a mess it would have
been if it had opened under the tanks???
Think it would never happen??? Well in late May 2002, another
sinkhole collapsed within a mile of the original Wink Sink. It has
not been fenced and is still collapsing, so stay away from it, if
you find it.
Congratz to Phanton11 for FTF!
This cache was placed by a member of the PBCA:
Permian Basin Cachers Association
Caching like Crazy, simply because we can!
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