When the Ground Drops
Sinkholes and the Verticality of History
Abstract
Focused on a massive sinkhole in Winter Park, Florida of 1981, the article investigates evolving human environment relationships within Central Florida’s karst environments as an interplay of logics and logistics of above and below ground. The article argues that these relationships are formed both in acute situations due to the pressures of increasing urbanization and groundwater extraction in the twentieth century and over the course of millennia due to long-term karst formation processes. The piece focuses on the different types of property damage caused by the sinkhole and introduces insurance companies as guardians of above-ground order. It illustrates that, although the sinkhole briefly overpowers the above-ground logic, it ultimately does not distort existing social inequality. Using the sinkhole as an interscalar vehicle, the article shows the intersection of the horizontal and vertical planes and with it the volumetric intersection of place, space, and time.
Presentato: 24 Marzo 2025 | Accettato: 21 Maggio 2025 | Pubblicato 21 Luglio 2025 | Lingua: en
Keywords Florida • Sinkholes • Critical zone • History • Time • Verticality • Place • Space • Anthropocene
Copyright © 2025 Simone M. Müller. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/LGSP/2785-2709/2025/01/009