Pinge

A Pinge (pronounced "pinger", plural: Pingen) or Binge ("binger") is the name given in German-speaking Europe to a wedge-, ditch- or funnel-shaped depression in the terrain caused by mining activity. This depression or sink-hole is frequently caused by the collapse of old underground mine workings that are close to the Earth's surface. Unlike natural landforms, a Pinge is a direct result of human activity. The term has no direct equivalent in English, but may be translated as "mining sink-hole", "mine slump" or, in some cases, as "glory hole".

In the original sense of the word, the mining terms Pinge or Binge go back to the activity known as pingen which meant something like "prospecting". An aufgepingter lode was one near the surface of the ground. The Pinge was therefore like a primitive, open pit mine.

Subsequently the term was transferred to the funnel-shaped depressions that formed at the surface above filled or collapsed mineshafts. In lode mining, shafts and pits followed the strike of the lode and left behind the typical lines of Pingen (Pingenzüge) associated with medieval mining that may still be seen, for example, in the Thuringian Forest, the Upper Harz Mountains, the Ore Mountains and the Eschweiler area in central Europe.

Later on, the term Pinge was applied to many kinds of depression left in the terrain as a result of mining activity, including the holes left by opencast pits in surface mining or the cave-ins above underground mines. The latter occurred either as a result of the unexpected consequences of active mining (often associated with accidents or disasters) or the subsidence above abandoned mines. They were sometimes willingly and knowingly accepted, for example, when mining was carried out by a method known as block caving.

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