what is quicksand?

716 viewsOtherPlanetary Science

Honestly as a kid I thought that quicksand would be a way bigger problem in life considering how many TV shows and movies I saw that used it.

But basically, what is it, how is it formed, how common is it, that kind of stuff. I live on the US East coast so (to my knowledge) I’ve never encountered it

In: Planetary Science

19 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Quicksand is a mix of water and sand that acts like a liquid. It may or may not be muddy, depending on the fineness of the grains. We fished where a creek entered into a river. In low water, the creek would deposit sand at the mouth. Fresh sand rolls along the creek bottom until it gets to slower river water, then it lightly settles. Given time, the water squeezes out, but sand can build up pretty fast. It acts like jello. Then the river level raises, sweeps away the sand bar, lowers, and everything resets. I have sunk to my waist in that sand. Doing that squeezes the water out and hardens the sand.

You are viewing 1 out of 19 answers, click here to view all answers.