Terraced open pit mines and rice paddies require an enormous amount of maintenance. The terraces are not naturally stable. Rice paddies will quickly silt-up, th

Terraced open pit mines and rice paddies require an enormous amount of maintenance. The terraces are not naturally stable. Rice paddies will quickly silt-up, then flood and collapse in heavy rain. Open pit mines will fill with water. The sides will collapse. In the desert, they will fill with dust. Deserts often have flash-floods following thunderstorms. They might remain recognizable as hollows, but not much more. The Bingham mine has had collapses in 2013 and 2021: https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2021/06/04/2021-bingham-canyon/ https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2021/06/04/2021-bingham-... https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2013/04/30/analysing-the-bingham-canyon-mine-landslide-part-1-the-landslide-source-area/ https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2013/04/30/analysing-the... https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2013/05/06/analysing-the-bingham-canyon-mine-landslide-part-2-the-landslide-track/ https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2013/05/06/analysing-the... There was a similar collapse recently at the Çöpler Mine in Turkey... https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/copler-mine-1 https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/copler-mine-1 https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/copler-mine-2 https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/copler-mine-2 https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/copler-mine-3 https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/copler-mine-3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUD0hQjueI0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUD0hQjueI0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCRTwnz3_oo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCRTwnz3_oo