Is an underground mine collapse or a tunnel collapse called a sinkhole?

Question

Imagine there's an underground man made structure e.g. a tunnel or an underground train station that collapses creating a depression in the surface. Would that technically be called a sinkhole? What is the exact definition of a sinkhole (for someone illiterate in earth sciences, please, thanks.)?The [wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinkhole#Artificial_processes) on sinkholes seems to suggest that they should be called collapses and not sinkholes:> Collapses, commonly ***incorrectly*** labeled as sinkholes also occur due to human activity, such as the collapse of abandoned mines and salt cavern storage in salt domes in places like Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. More commonly, collapses occur in urban areas due to water main breaks or sewer collapses when old pipes give way.*(emphasis mine)*The media keeps calling them sinkholes. A google search on sinkholes will give numerous news articles that call these incidents sinkholes.P.S. Sorry about the tags. Not sure what tags to use.

Answer 1

Sinkholes are formed when water dissolves underground rock, creating a space underground. Eventually, there is so much space that the soil above no longer is supported by the rock, and the it "sinks" down into the space. This is why a mine or tunnel collapse is not a sinkhole - they are manmade features, and a sinkhole is created by nature and is part of a "karst" terrain (groundwater movement dissolves rock underground, forming caves and other features).