Turkey's Konya Plain Sees Surge in Massive Sinkholes Amid Groundwater Depletion and Climate Change

Turkey’sKonya Plain is seeing a surge in massive sinkholes—some more than 100 feet wide and hundreds of feet deep. Nearly 700 have formed due to groundwater depletion, drought, and climate change. Farmers are losing cropland as authorities work to curb illegal wells and monitor land subsidence. The Konya Plain in central Turkey has become one of the world’s most dramatic examples of land collapse. A recent assessment by Turkey’sDisaster and Emergency Management Authorityidentified 684 active sinkholes across this major agricultural region. Drone videos show enormous craters tearing through wheat and sugar beet farmland. According to Konya Technical University, more than 20 new sinkholes formed in the Karapınar district in the past year alone. Some span more than 100 feet across, plunging hundreds of feet deep. Sinkholes have appeared in the region since the early 2000s, but the frequency has sharply increased. What once seemed like geological anomalies are now part of a growing and alarming pattern. Konya Basin’s agricultural productivity depends heavily on groundwater pumping. Water-intensive crops like sugar beets and corn require deep wells that pull from underground aquifers.