Nearly 700 massive sinkholes consume Turkey farmland fueled by extreme drought
Experts say sinkholes more than 200 feet deep began appearing in the 2000s, driven by drought and extensive groundwater extraction.
At least 684 sinkholes have formed across Turkey’s Konya Plain due to prolonged drought and extensive groundwater depletion, posing risks to farmland and nearby rural communities.
Hundreds of sinkholes have appeared in a drought-plagued region of Turkey, with new ones collapsing into the Earth across the parched landscape.
A recent assessment by Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority found 684 sinkholes across the Konya Plain, a key wheat-growing region often referred to as the country’s breadbasket. New drone video shows the deep holes breaking up the agricultural region.
Experts pinpoint climate change, drought and extensive groundwater extraction as the primary causes behind these massive sinkholes.
An aerial view of professional climbers descending into the approximately 40-meter-deep Inoba Sinkhole, seeking to draw attention to the use of groundwater and the sinkhole hazard caused by drought in the Karapinar district of Konya, Turkiye on Sept. 10, 2025. (Photo by Serhat Cetinkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Heavy irrigation for sugar beet and corn production has accelerated groundwater depletion in the Konya Basin. The groundwater table in parts of Konya has dropped tens of meters over the past few decades, according to Turkish geological studies.
According to Konya Technical University, more than 20 new large sinkholes have emerged in the past year in the Karapınar district of Konya. Some of these sinkholes are more than 100 feet wide and hundreds of feet deep.
The Konya region historically saw only a handful of sinkholes per decade before the 2000s; now dozens appear annually.â¨The university’s Sinkhole Research Centre said about 1,850 areas were showing subsidence by the end of 2021.
A sinkhole with a diameter of 15 meters and a depth of 5 meters has formed in the village of Suduragi, Karaman, Turkiye, on August 25, 2025. (Photo by Harun Resit Yildiko /Anadolu via Getty Images)
According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, Turkey is experiencing severe drought, and water reservoirs reached their lowest levels in 15 years in 2021.
Turkey Today reports that the sinkholes in Karapınar are threatening farmlands, and farmers are increasingly concerned about the dangers posed by new collapses. Some farmers have lost cropland to sinkhole collapses or have been forced to abandon high-risk fields.
Turkish authorities have increased monitoring in the Konya Basin and launched programs to reduce illegal well drilling.
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