4/21/2024 0 Comments Getting stuck in quicksand![]() ![]() It’s mythical, mysterious, and hard to detect and decipher. Having a cellphone to call 911 and a buddy with a rope or stout pole wouldn’t hurt, either.It’s almost usual to get creeped out when talking or just thinking about quicksand. Begin slowly moving your legs to churn up the sand and bring the water to the surface, which should make it easier to float and extract yourself from the muck. Then, lie on your back and spread your limbs like a snowshoe, your body’s larger surface area will prevent you from quickly sinking into the soft sand. If you happen to step into quicksand, the first thing to do is get rid of your backpack or other heavy items on your person-and don’t panic. You can survive quicksand by staying calm and lying on your back. In May 2023, Illinois college student Zachary Porter became stuck waist-deep in muddy quicksand in Alaska’s Turnagain Arm and drowned when the tide came in, despite first responders’ efforts to free him. It’s extremely rare, but people have succumbed to other forces-hypothermia, dehydration, or drowning-when they’ve been unable to extricate themselves from quicksand. This shift prevents people from sinking all the way in and gives them a chance to try to free themselves from the heavier, denser sand. After you step or fall in, the overall density of the quicksand changes the suspended particles sink to the bottom while water rises to the surface. You won’t know you’re caught in it until you stumble into it. ![]() It probably won’t kill you.Īt first glance, quicksand appears solid. Hollywood screenwriters used the same plot device in Star Wars (1977) The Princess Bride (1987), in which Buttercup (Robin Wright) sinks within seconds Jumanji (1995), where Robin Williams’s character is stuck up to his chin in the stuff and many more. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) and Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif) struggle to save him. One of its memorable scenes features a boy getting swallowed by quicksand during a sandstorm (his camel survives) as T.E. The 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Quicksand made an early appearance in the movies. Relatively few people were killed or injured, but widespread liquefaction damaged or destroyed almost 15,000 homes. That’s exactly what happened in June 1964 when a magnitude 7.6 quake struck Niigata, Japan. ![]() The sand or soil can be ejected from the ground and destabilize the surface, so any buildings resting there will start sinking, much like the action of quicksand. When a significant earthquake hits, its motion can make loose, dry soil act like a liquid, a phenomenon called liquefaction. Earthquakes can bring on quicksand-like conditions. The low-lying river estuaries of Florida and the Carolinas are prone to quicksand, while the canyons of southern Utah, New Mexico, and northern Arizona can harbor quicksand when it forms around springs. Common locations for quicksand include beaches, lakeshores, riverbanks, marshes, and the ground surrounding subterranean springs. Quicksand can form anywhere the conditions are right.įor quicksand to form, conditions must be perfect: There needs to be a quantity of grainy soil and a constant water source that saturates the ground. It isn’t clear where and how much dry quicksand actually exists, though likely locations would be in deserts and at the bases of sand dunes, where air can flow among the fine grains. This low-density combination, created in a lab experiment and published in the journal Nature in 2004, instantly swallowed up an object placed on its surface. Dry quicksand occurs when very fine sand particles are suspended in air instead of a liquid. Wet quicksand is the kind in which sand is suspended in water. Anything on the surface of the quicksand will begin to sink. When the colloid is agitated by something-say, a person stepping into it-the mix becomes a liquified soil that can no longer support weight. As long as the colloid stays still, the particles remain where they are. Scientifically speaking, it’s a colloid-a situation in which one substance (sand or silt) is suspended in another substance (water) without settling to the bottom. Most quicksand is a viscous mixture of sand, clay, mud, or silt saturated with water. Michel, France, are prone to quicksand formation. ![]()
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