Bayou Corne sinkhole, Industrial sinkhole near Bayou Corne, Louisiana.

The Bayou Corne sinkhole is a collapsed salt-dome cavern in a cypress swamp in northern Assumption Parish, Louisiana. It was first measured at 98.8 metres across and 15.2 metres deep, except on its right side, where the depth reached 128.6 metres. By 2024 it covered 37 acres, and methane bubbles rise continuously to the water surface.

The collapse happened on August 3, 2012, when an underground salt dome cavern gave way and triggered immediate evacuations. The operating company had mined salt from below years earlier and left behind hollow spaces.

The name Bayou Corne comes from the Acadian settlement of the bayou in the late 18th century, when the wetlands were valued as alligator and crawfish nesting grounds. After the 2012 evacuation, Texas Brine paid each resident $875 per week, and some accepted buyouts while others joined a class action that led to a proposed $48.1 million settlement in 2014.

The sinkhole lies in swamp forest north of Bayou Corne, reachable only by boat along the bayou; there is no road or trail to its shore. Boaters should keep clear of the open water, where methane bubbles rise continuously, and of the cypress trunks slumping into the hole. Access is controlled by Assumption Parish authorities.

Seismometers regularly record faint tremors caused by material shifting beneath the surface. Occasionally gas bubbles form and rise to create small fountains at the water surface.