Officials with the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates such permits, stressed Friday that the cause of the sinkhole has not been determined.

The sinkhole in the small Southeast Texas town of Daisetta began as a 20-foot hole in the ground on Wednesday, but by Thursday had grown to 900 feet across at its widest point and 260 feet deep.

It has swallowed up oil tanks and barrels, tires, telephone poles and several vehicles in Daisetta, a town of around 1,000 residents located about 60 miles northeast of Houston.  - SOURCE Fox News

Notes on the Dasietta Texas Sinkhole Reported in May 2008
- the "Sinkhole de Mayo"

The Texas Dasietta Sinkhole which appeared suddenly and apparently with no warning on May 8, 2008 in Dasietta Texas. New York Times reported that after only about two days the Dasietta Texas sinkhole covered an area of 600 x 525 feet, or about 1/10 of a square mile. At the time of the May 9th report, experts didn't know if the sinkhole had stopped growing, but Carl Norma n, a geologist at U.Houston reported in the Times that the sink hole could become stable or it could collapse further in six months, doubling in size. The salt dome over which the Dasietta Texas sinkhole is located was estimated to be six miles in diameter.

It was posed that while this sinkhole collapse could be due to entirely natural causes, the the practice of disposal of waste saltwater produced by oil drilling operations by pumping the wastewater into the ground might be contributing to or even causing the Dasietta sinkhole by dissolving underground salt. -- Ref: "Sinkhole and Town: Now You See It ...", New York Times, p. A-15, 9 May 2008.

Property inspectors working in Texas in areas of construction over salt domes or where oil drilling may be both extracting oil from and inserting wastewater into the soil need to be particularly vigilant and should caution home owners or home buyers about the risk of sudden sinkhole development. - SOURCE

Nearby residents still rattled by its size; still no clear idea of why it formed
Pat Sullivan / AP

DAISETTA, Texas - Geologists said a 260-foot-deep sinkhole that grew to the length of three football fields over just two days seemed to be slowing down Thursday, but that it could take months before it's clear whether surrounding areas are stable.

The 900-foot-long sinkhole, with crumbling dirt around its edges resembling sharp teeth, has swallowed up oil tanks and barrels, tires, telephone poles and several vehicles in Daisetta, a once-booming oil town of about 1,000 residents about 60 miles northeast of Houston.

SOURCE: MSNBC News

Videos:

• Giant Sinkhole in Texas - MSNBC
• Giant Sinkhole in Texas - CNN
• Texas Sink hole early stages - CNN
• Huge Sinkhole in Texas - CW39