pothole

1. A hole or pit, especially one in a road surface. Also called chuckhole.
2. A deep round hole worn in rock by loose stones whirling in strong rapids or waterfalls.
3. Western U.S. A place filled with mud or quicksand that is a hazard to cattle.

Instead of causing travelers to swerve away, the first potholes attracted them. Found in rock formations rather than roads, they were curiosities of nature: holes with the shape of pots. In 1826 the superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, T. L. McKenney, traveling to Wisconsin to negotiate treaties, wrote in his Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, "The waters once were, in many places, some fifty feet above their present level; for their action upon the rocks is plainly seen in the pot holes, as the excavations are called, which are made by the action of pebbles upon the rocks." Half a century later a writer for the American Naturalist described "well-worn cavities in the sides of the mountains, showing how the running waters...formed the cavity much as a 'pot hole' is made in our streams at the pressent time."

It took the ingenuity of modern road construction to create the potholes that we complain about nowadays. The gentle asphalt roads we are accustomed to today are particularly vulnerable to the undermining actions of water and ice; these create deep holes with steep sides like potholes in rocks, and thus are similarly named. The first of these potholes is mentioned along with the first of these roads in the early days of the twentieth century. Smooth modern roads and fast modern cars have managed to transform the pothole from tourist attraction to travel hazard.

Loosely, a vertical cave system. More precisely, a more or less circular hole in the bedrock of a river. The hole enlarges because pebbles inside it collide with the bedrock as the water swirls.

Potholing can also be the sport of exploring vertical caves as a synonym of caving.

"Potholes" redirects here. For the former town in California, see Potholes, California.

In 1995 Fidel Castro said he would not vote for Rudolph Giuliani for Mayor of New York City because of the large potholes.^[1] In 2008 potholes were still seen, such as this one on Second Avenue.

The city of Los Angeles is famous for its large potholes.

A pothole (sometimes called kettle and known in parts of the Western United States as a chuckhole) is a type of disruption in the surface of a roadway where a portion of the road material has broken away, leaving a hole. Most potholes are formed due to fatigue of the pavement surface. As fatigue cracks develop they typically interlock in a pattern known as "alligator cracking". The chunks of pavement between fatigue cracks are worked loose and may eventually be picked out of the surface by continued wheel loads, thus forming a pothole. The formation of potholes is exacerbated by cold temperatures, as water expands when it freezes and puts more stress on cracked pavement. Once a pothole forms, it grows through continued removal of broken chunks of pavement. If a pothole fills with water the growth may be accelerated, as the water 'washes away' loose particles of road surface as vehicles pass. In temperate climates, potholes tend to form most often during spring months when the subgrade is weak due to high moisture content. However, potholes are a frequent occurrence anywhere in the world, including in the tropics.

Potholes can grow to feet in width, though they usually only become a few inches deep, at most. If they become large enough, damage to tires and vehicle suspensions occurs.

Contents 1 Other uses 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

Other uses

Pothole (northern Britain) is also a term for a deep cave;^[2] from this sense, the derivation potholing is a synonym for caving and a potholer is a caver.

Pothole (or kettle-hole) is also a term for a formation in rivers caused by a whirlpool eroding a hole into rock. The abrasion is mainly caused by the circular motion of small sediments such as small stones in the river. The interiors of potholes tend to be smooth and regular, unlike a plunge pool. An example is the large pothole found in Archbald, Pennsylvania in Archbald Pothole State Park.

In the northern Great Plains of North America, wetlands formed in glacial kettles are known as prairie potholes.^[3]

The Pothole is a well known sport fishing location in the tailwaters below Powersite Dam in southwest Missouri. It is the uppermost portion of Bull Shoals Lake.

"The holes in our roads" story from the Daily Mail's 7 January 1967 edition reported that there were 4,000 potholes in Blackburn, Lancashire.^[4] That story was mentioned in The Beatles's song A Day in the Life.^[5]

See also

• Big Apple Pothole and Sidewalk Protection Committee
• Giants kettle
• Slough (wetland)

References

1. ^ Perspective 1995 Newsweek
2. ^ "pothole definition". Dictionary.com.
3. ^ Prairie Potholes, U.S. Fish and wildlife Service Mountain-Prairie Region website, accessed April 8, 2009
4. ^ Daily Mail 7 January 1967
5. ^ A Day In The Life - An Indepth Analysis - The Origins of the Song

External links

Look up pothole in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Minnesota Department of Transportation - A Recipe for Potholes
• All potholes can be reported at seeclickfix.com on the map.

This road-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - slaghul, jættegryde
v. intr. - lave huller i vejen

Nederlands (Dutch)
gat in de weg

Français (French)
n. - fondrière, nid de poule, (Géol) marmite torrentielle, gouffre, réseau souterrain (de grottes)
v. intr. - tomber dans un nid de poule

Deutsch (German)
n. - Schlagloch, Höhle
v. - Höhlen erkunden

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - λάκκος, λακκούβα, πηγάδι, σπήλαιο
v. - εξερευνώ σπήλαια

Italiano (Italian)
buca, pozzo, pozzanghera, fare speleologia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - caldeirão (m) (Geol.), cratera (f)

Русский (Russian)
выбоина, расщелина, исследовать пещеры

Español (Spanish)
n. - bache, cueva, marmita de gigante
v. intr. - dedicarse a la espeleología

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - väggrop, potthål, tjälskott, jättegryta (geol.)
v. - gröpa ur

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
壶洞, 探索洞穴

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 壺洞
v. intr. - 探索洞穴

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 구혈(강바닥 암석에 생긴 단지 모양의 구멍)
v. intr. - (스포츠, 취미로) 동굴을 탐험하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 甌穴, 穴, 深い穴

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الفجوة الدردوريه : ثقب دائري في حوض النهر الصخري, أخدود (فعل) يكتشف المغارات‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מהמורה בכביש, בור, חור, מערה, מערכת מערות‬
v. intr. - ‮סייר במערות‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.