Large sinkholes appeared in some provinces over the weekend, touching off earthquake rumors that were quickly denied by experts, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported Sunday.

Craters of different diameters and depths resulted after a build-up of underground water caused the ground to collapse. The giant sinkholes appeared in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Zhejiang Province.

In Chengdu, two sinkholes appeared in two different counties, frightening survivors of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake who mistook the cave-ins as warnings of another quake.

The monitoring station of geological environment in Chengdu told the newspaper that the sinkholes were caused by groundwater drainage and drilling.

The paper reported that both were normal geological phenomena and not related to earthquakes.

Part of a highway in Zhejing Province sank into the ground last Saturday. The crater, with a diameter of 8.3 meters and depth of six meters, occupied major lanes and caused traffic jams but no accidents.

Experts told the paper that the sinkhole was likely caused by deeper karst caves, or dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock underneath, but details needed to be investigated and ana-lyzed.

The ground collapsed in four sinkholes that appeared in Laibin, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Cracks appeared in a local dam, forcing local authorities to release water and avoid possible dangers.

Some villagers were also evacuated to safety.