A new study has found that the Wink sink holes are increasing due to oil industry drilling in the West Texas area.

According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, researchers at SMU, Southern Methodist University, found trouble in an area the size of Connecticut in the Wink area.

The area covers Winkler, Ward, Reeves, and Pecos counties just to the west of Midland/Odessa.

The study found that ground in the area is shifting and causing sink holes, two of which around the Wink area, have increased in size in the past three years.

The researchers said the years of oil activity in the area is to blame for the patches of ground that are sinking and rising.

Their latest area of research is located about a half mile east of the biggest of the two sink holes and it is thought that the sink holes are caused by water leaks and dissolving salt layers.

A "ground collapse" is possible in that area which could cause a third sink hole to happen.

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