Sinkholes and Agricultural Sustainability

Abstract

Natural disasters are known as natural events that suddenly occur in a certain region on earth, create social stress, create significant losses on people and human settlements, and disrupt life in society. Sinkholes are considered a natural disaster that can cause serious damage to society and the environment. Such unpredictable geological disasters have the potential to cause irreversible damage, especially to settlements and agricultural areas. There are thousands of sinkholes in regions containing salt, gypsum and carbonate rocks in different parts of the world and the main factor that accelerates them is human activities. Disaster prevention and damage reduction policies can be developed with sinkhole risk assessment studies, and disaster-oriented planning can be made to reduce the damage caused by sinkholes. These natural events that occur beyond human control cause loss of life and property. Within the scope of this study, sinkholes, that are considered as an important component of natural disasters and whose numbers are increasing over the world, and agricultural sustainability are discussed.