Coastal quicksand. How scary are quicksands? How are they formed? There is a chance to get out of quicksand

You were walking in the desert, lost your mind and suddenly found yourself in quicksand, quickly sinking to the bottom. Certain death in the mud? Not really. Quicksand is not nearly as dangerous as it looks in the movies, although it is very real. Any sand or silt can temporarily become quick-moving if it is sufficiently saturated with water and/or subject to vibrations such as during an earthquake. Here's what to do if you're going under.

Steps

Part 1

Freeing your legs

Reset everything. If you step while wearing a backpack or carrying something heavy, immediately remove the backpack or drop everything you are carrying. Because your body is less dense than quicksand, you won't drown completely unless you panic and try too hard to get out, or you're overloaded with something heavy.

If you can get out of your shoes, do it. Shoes, especially those with flat, rigid soles (such as many styles of boots), create a vacuum when you try to pull them out of quicksand. If you know in advance that you are likely to get caught in quicksand, take off your boots and walk either barefoot or in shoes that can be easily removed.

Move in a horizontal direction. If you feel stuck, take a couple of quick steps back before the quicksand immobilizes you. It usually takes a few minutes for the mixture to become pourable, so best way getting out means not getting stuck in the sand at all.
- If your feet are still stuck, do not take large or sudden steps in an attempt to free yourself. If you take a large step forward, you may be able to free one foot, but your other foot will sink even deeper, making complete release extremely difficult.
Lie on your back. If your legs sink very quickly, sit down and lean back. Increasing the contact area should help you free up your legs by eliminating the pressure they create and keeping them afloat. When you feel your legs begin to free themselves, roll away from the sands to the side and free yourself from their grip. You will find yourself up to your neck in mud, but this is the fastest and safest way to get out.

Take your time. If you are stuck in quicksand, panicking will only harm your attempts to get out. Whatever you do, do it slowly. Slow movements prevent the quicksand from being stirred up: vibrations caused by fast movements can turn relatively hard ground into an additional mass of quicksand.
- More importantly, quicksand can react to your movements in completely unpredictable ways. If you move slowly, it will be easier for you to stop the unfavorable process and prevent further sinking. You will need to be patient. Depending on how much quicksand is around you, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to slowly and methodically extricate yourself from it.
Part 2
Getting out of deep quicksand
1. Relax. Quicksand is never deeper than a meter, but if you find a particularly deep section, you can quickly sink into waist- or chest-deep sand. If you panic, you may sink even deeper, but if you relax, your body's buoyancy will prevent you from drowning.
  - Breathe deeply. Not only will deep breathing help you stay calm, it will also increase your buoyancy. Fill your lungs as much as possible a large number air. It is impossible to "go to the bottom" if your lungs are full of air.
2. Lie on your back and float. If you are sunk up to your hips or higher, lean back. The more you distribute your weight over the surface, the more difficult it will be for you to sink. Float on your back, slowly and carefully releasing your legs. Once you have them free, you can begin to move carefully towards a safe area, slowly and smoothly moving backwards using arm strokes, as if you were swimming. When you reach the edge of the quicksand, you can roll onto solid ground.
  
  Use a cane. When in an area with quicksand, walk with a cane. When you feel your ankles begin to sink, place the pole on the surface of the quicksand horizontally behind you. Lie on your back on the pole. In a couple of minutes you will achieve balance on the quicksand and stop drowning. Push the pole towards the new position; move it under your hips. The pole will prevent your hips from sinking in, so you can slowly release one leg first and then the other.
  - Remain on your back with your hands and feet touching the quicksand and use a probing pole. Slowly move along both sides of the pole until you reach solid ground.
3. Take frequent breaks. Getting out of quicksand, you may be tired from work.

There are still many places on the planet that it is better not to accidentally visit. And you have to be very careful when going there. A good example of such places are quicksand. There are many chilling stories about them. According to some legends, there are sands that can completely swallow a person in a few minutes (this is the reputation sand dunes between North and South Wales). However, in order to die, a lonely traveler in desert places does not have to be dragged headlong. One day, a married couple drove their personal car (an SUV, by the way) onto a seemingly safe sandbank during the ocean's high tide. The wheels immediately sank into the sand. The woman who got out of the car also fell to her knees, where her feet seemed to be squeezed in an iron grip. The husband could not save his wife - the ocean quickly hid her completely.

Researchers have repeatedly taken up the study of the phenomenon of quicksand, and gradually the situation with them became more or less clear. Undoubtedly, the properties of wet sand depend significantly on the amount of water it contains. Moistened grains of sand easily stick together, demonstrating a sharp increase in adhesion forces, which in dry sand are caused only by surface unevenness and are therefore very small.

The forces of surface tension of the films of water surrounding each grain of sand cause them to stick together. In order for sand grains to stick together well, water must cover the particles and their groups with a thin film, while most of the space between them must remain filled with air. If the amount of water in the sand is increased, then as soon as the entire space between the sand grains is filled with water, the surface tension forces disappear and the result is a mixture of sand and water that has completely different properties. Thus, Quicksand is the most ordinary sand, under the thickness of which at a depth of several meters there is a fairly strong source of water.

Quicksand is most often found in hilly areas or tidal areas. Moving from the mountains, streams of water move through channels cut inside dolomite and limestone rocks. Somewhere it breaks through a stone and rushes upward in a powerful stream. If a layer of sand is encountered along the way, the flow of water coming from below can turn it into quicksand. The sun dries out the top layer of sand, and a thin, hard crust forms on it, on which grass can even grow. The illusion of well-being and tranquility will instantly evaporate; as soon as you step on it, the soil will float from under your feet.

Why does a person fall into quicksand? The point is the resulting structure of the arrangement of grains of sand. The flow of water coming from below whips up a loose cushion of grains of sand, which is in relative equilibrium for some time. The weight of a traveler who wanders into such a place collapses the structure.

The grains of sand, being redistributed, move along with the body of the victim, additionally as if sucking the poor fellow into the soil layer. After this, the structure of the sand around the unfortunate person becomes completely different - tightly pressed wet grains of sand form a trap due to the force of the surface tension of the water layer. When you try to pull your leg out, a vacuum of air is formed, pulling the leg back with enormous force. The force required to lift a leg in such a situation is comparable to the weight of a car. If the sand were dry, then with slow movement, the air between the grains of sand would first come to the vacated space, and then the sand itself, crumbling, would fill the gap. A person buried even up to his neck in ordinary sand can easily get out of it on his own (anticipating objections, let me remind you that in the White Sun of the Desert the hero was previously tied up). In quicksand, a viscosity comparable to thick jelly will not allow this to be done.

The density of quicksand is approximately 1.6 times greater than the density of water, but this makes it impossible to swim in it. Due to the high humidity, the sand is viscous, and any attempt to move in it is met with strong resistance. The slowly flowing sand mass does not have time to fill the cavity that appears behind the displaced object, and a rarefaction or vacuum arises in it. The force of atmospheric pressure tends to return the object to its original place - it seems that the sand is “sucking in” its victim. Thus, it is possible to move in quicksand, but only extremely slowly and smoothly, since the mixture of water and sand is inertial with respect to rapid movements: in response to a sudden movement, it seems to harden.

For the formation of quicksand, water must move from bottom to top - which provides a tide or underground flow. In the Sahara Desert, quicksand is formed in the area of the existence of a large underground river, which people did not know about until the beginning of the era of probing the structure of the earth's surface from a satellite. Sometimes, the cause of such a zone may be an earthquake. Or human activity. One day, while trying to drain the construction area of the foundation of a high-rise building, a huge pump sucking water through a well went underground. Builders of buildings and subways in St. Petersburg often encounter quicksand, where the soil is oversaturated with water. In these places they are called quicksand.

Not only lonely travelers or animals become victims of quicksand. There is a place where the sands swallow up ships: the South Foreland cape in England (Goodwin Shoals) is world famous as the “ship graveyard”. On a long sandbank, there are shipwrecks submerged in the sand. The sands hold the victim tenaciously, and it is almost impossible to save the ship, and sometimes the crew. One day, the ship Gelena Modjeska, whose cargo was estimated at $3 million, fell victim to the Goodwin Sands. Four days eight rescue tugs They tried to save the ship, but on the fifth day the Helena Modjeska broke in half, and the cargo and the ship perished in the sand. And in 1954, in this place, quicksand sucked in an entire lighthouse that warned ships of danger. The tower went completely into the sand.

Quicksand (quicksand) - sands that are oversaturated with air (gas or hot vapors, in the desert), moisture from rising sources and, as a result, capable of sucking into the depths objects, animals and humans that fall on them.

When quicksand is at rest, it seems solid, but it has the property of sucking into itself objects that are heavier and denser in mass and density. In other words, it is the same thing as a swamp. The only difference between them is that the swamp is in a constant liquid environment, and the sand turns into quicksand with an increase in the level of underwater waters and currents.

Two types of quicksand

1. Quicksand with a wet surface

The wet surface of quicksand is found along the shores of seas, lakes and rivers (where rising springs are usually common).

Often the surface of such places consists of a thin crust of silt. Silt is a smaller “pulverized” fraction of sand, which over time and friction of small sand particles turns into silt.

2. Quicksand with a dry surface

The dry surface of quicksand occurs in arid deserts and in places where there is no water nearby. Their instability consists in the increase in underwater rivers and currents, up to the level of the surface of the sandy base. The top part of the sand remains dry and a person can easily get into it.

Quicksand is not bottomless at all. Typically their depth ranges from a few centimeters to several meters.

Due to the high density of quicksand, a person or animal cannot completely drown in it.

Quicksand is safe in itself, but due to the fact that it significantly limits the ability to move, a person stuck in it becomes vulnerable to other dangers: high tides, solar radiation, dehydration, and others.

If you get into quicksand, just like in a swamp, you should try to lie on your back with your arms spread wide. You need to get out slowly and smoothly, without making sudden movements.

However, people are dying in quicksand.

Arnside, England, is located near Morecambe Bay, notorious for its high tides and quicksand, which have killed almost 150 people since 1990 alone. At low tide the water here recedes far from coastline, and the exposed sandy bottom quickly dries out, creating the illusion of an excellent beach, which in fact is fraught with mortal danger. People walking on the dry surface are trapped by quicksand, and the fast tide, which rises nine meters, covers the unfortunate people completely.

In Alaska there is a beautiful Tarnagen fjord, which is 80 km long. In 1988, two tourists, the Dixon couple, decided to ride along the coast at low tide. Three hundred meters from the shore, their car got stuck in the sand. Adeanna got out of the car to push her from behind. The soft muddy soil floated under her feet, and the woman got stuck in it up to her knees. The quicksand squeezed her legs as if in a vice. Jay tried to help his wife, but in three hours he only managed to dig out one leg. When he finally decided to call someone for help, time was hopelessly lost - the tide had already begun. The rescuers rushed in very quickly. They dived into the icy water and tried until the last moment to free Adeanna’s leg, but they could not do anything, and the woman drowned.

Large, heavy objects sometimes fall into quicksand with catastrophic consequences.

Ordinary sands become quicksand for another reason: as a result of an earthquake. True, in these cases their “fluctuation” persists only for a very short time. In 1692, in Jamaica, quicksand swallowed up an entire area of the city of Port Royal, killing over two thousand people. Port Royal was a very large, rich port, home to the largest slave market. Since 1674, by appointment of King Charles II of England, the mayor of the city became famous pirate Henry Morgan. However, the location for the construction of the city was chosen extremely poorly - Port Royal was located on a 16-kilometer sand spit. Its top layer is still saturated with water, and below there is a mixture of gravel, sand and debris.

In the 19th century, a freight train derailed on the Colorado Bridge and plunged into a "dry" river bed that had become choppy due to a recent rainstorm. Railway workers found most of the train, but the 181-ton locomotive sank without a trace.

Warning sign near quicksand

Warning signs are placed in the area of quicksand, but this does not always stop people.

Bear Grylls Sahara Quicksand

Alaska has a lot beautiful place- Tarnagen fjord. In 1988, two tourists, the Dixon couple, decided to ride along the coast at low tide. The car got stuck in the sand. Adrianna Dixon got out of the car and instantly fell into the ground up to her knees.

The husband tried to pull the woman out, but after suffering for several hours he was unable to free her from the trap. The sand was compressed and held the feet like cement. Dixon called rescuers, but the water was already rising in the fjord - the tide had begun. It was not possible to save the woman who fell into quicksand - the unfortunate woman drowned.

Quicksand is a moving sandy surface that can suck in any object. The rate of suction depends on the structure of the sand, the mass and volume of the foreign object and ranges from several minutes to several months.

There are many legends and creepy stories associated with quicksand. Most of them objectively reflect the terrible danger lurking under the surface of the sand, which at first glance seems so harmless.

In 2000, the National geographical society The United States has released a movie about quicksand, shot in the tradition of Hollywood horror films, after watching which you are unlikely to want to sunbathe even on a well-maintained sandy beach.

Most of the legends about quicksand originated in England in sea coasts, where for centuries there have been dangerous areas that trap a person or animal who carelessly steps onto the treacherous surface.

Here is an excerpt from Wilkie Collins' novel The Moonstone:

“Between the two rocks lies the worst quicksand on the whole Yorkshire coast. During the ebb and flow of the tide, something happens in their depths, causing the entire surface of the sands to fluctuate in the most unusual way... Secluded and scary place. No boat dares to enter this bay... Even birds fly away from the quicksand. The tide began to rise, and the terrible sand began to tremble. Its brown mass slowly rose, and then it all began to tremble...”

Back in the 19th century, most of these dangerous places in England it was buried and destroyed. There are currently no quicksands in densely populated areas.

Until now, scientists have not fully understood the nature of this dangerous phenomenon. Some researchers believe that the ability to suction is determined by the special shape of the sand grains. According to one of the hypotheses put forward by Russian physicist Vitaly Frolov, the mechanism of action of quicksand is due to electrical effects, as a result of which friction between grains of sand decreases and the sand becomes fluid.

If the fluidity extends to a depth of several meters, the soil becomes viscous and sucks in any massive body that gets into it. American geologist George Clark from the University of Kansas studied a unique phenomenon for many years and came to the conclusion that quicksand is ordinary sand mixed with water and having some properties of a liquid medium.

According to Clark, quicksand is not a natural phenomenon, but a special state of sand. The latter occurs, for example, on a surface periodically flooded by the tide, or if there is a flow under a mass of sand. underground river. Typically, quicksand is located in hilly areas where underground water flows often change direction and can rise to the surface or go deeper.

When the water flow rises, it does not appear outwardly, although the surface of the earth suddenly becomes very dangerous. This happened in England in Arnside in 1999, when, in front of his parents’ eyes, sand sucked his four-year-old son up to his waist.

Fortunately, rescuers arrived in time and tragedy was averted. Arnside is located near Morecambe Bay, famous for its high tides.

At low tide, the water recedes 11 kilometers, exposing the sandy bottom of the bay. Those brave souls who dare to step on this sand, which seems like solid ground, are instantly sucked in. The legs become squeezed by a hardened mass, and it is impossible to pull them out without outside help. If this is not done in time, a person dies under the water of the tide, as happened with Adrianna Dixon.

Not only tidal beaches, but also the banks of some rivers are sometimes fraught with invisible danger.

Became notorious among sailors Sable Island, located in Atlantic Ocean 180 kilometers from the coast of Canada, near which there are many reefs, which is why sea vessels, it happened that they suffered a catastrophe there and were thrown ashore. A few months later, the sand sucked up the wreckage without leaving a trace. There are a lot of dangerous quicksand in Alaska; the longest of the peninsula's fjords, completely filled with quicksand, stretches for 150 kilometers.

There are also quicksands in the Sahara, one of the driest and lifeless deserts on the planet. Entire caravans disappear there without a trace. Tuareg nomads talk about heartbreaking screams coming from underground at night. They believe that these are the groaning souls of people swallowed up in the greedy belly of the desert.

Recently, Russian scientists made a discovery based on satellite photographs of the earth's surface - a powerful underground river flows under the desert. Perhaps the waters of this stream give some places in the desert the properties of fluidity.

If you encounter a layer of sand along the way, the flow of water coming from below can turn it into quicksand. The sun dries out the top layer of sand, and a thin, hard crust forms on it, on which grass can even grow. The illusion of well-being and tranquility will instantly evaporate; as soon as you step on it, the soil will swim from under your feet.

When you try to pull your leg out, a vacuum of air is formed, pulling the leg back with enormous force. The force required to lift a leg in such a situation is comparable to the weight of a car. If the sand were dry, then with slow movement, the air between the grains of sand would first come to the vacated space, and then the sand itself, crumbling, would fill the gap.

A person buried even up to his neck in ordinary sand can easily get out of it on his own (anticipating objections, let me remind you that in the White Sun of the Desert the hero was previously tied up). In quicksand, a viscosity comparable to thick jelly will not allow this to be done.

The force of atmospheric pressure tends to return the object to its original place - it seems that the sand is “sucking in” its victim. Thus, it is possible to move in quicksand, but only extremely slowly and smoothly, since the mixture of water and sand is inertial with respect to rapid movements: in response to a sudden movement, it seems to harden.

It is difficult to even approximately estimate the number of victims of the deadly sands; in any case, it exceeds thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands. In 1692, in Jamaica, quicksand swallowed up an entire area of the city of Port Royal, killing over two thousand people. Port Royal was a very large, wealthy port and home to the largest slave market.

Since 1674, by appointment of King Charles II of England, the famous pirate Henry Morgan became mayor of the city. However, the location for the construction of the city was chosen extremely poorly - Port Royal was located on a 16-kilometer sand spit. Its top layer is still saturated with water, and below there is a mixture of gravel, sand and rock fragments.

On June 7, 1692, an earthquake began, and the sand under the city suddenly began to suck in buildings and people. Descriptions of the tragedy have been preserved in historical chronicles. Some city residents instantly fell underground, others were sucked in up to their knees or waist.

After the end of the earthquake, which lasted six minutes, the sand instantly turned into a solid mass, resembling cement, which held the people tightly in its vice. The unfortunates were suffocating, walled up alive in the ground.

Most died, unable to get out; their torsos sticking out of the sand were eaten by wild dogs. Back in the 19th century, on the site of the buried city, the remains of the walls of collapsed houses stuck out of the sand. But in 1907, another earthquake occurred, absorbing this evidence of the tragedy.

Nature is fraught with many dangers. Unfortunately, we sometimes underestimate these dangers. And such neglect leads to tragedies. There are places in nature where it is extremely dangerous to be. Such dangerous areas include quicksand.

What are they? This is a sandy surface characterized by increased mobility. Any object or living creature caught in quicksand can be pulled inside. The speed of tightening is uneven: this can happen either in a matter of minutes or over many months. Different peoples have legends and myths associated with quicksand. The insidiousness of quicksand is that outwardly they seem quite safe. There are many legends about quicksand in English folklore, as there are many such dangerous areas.

This is not to say that people have not tried to deal with quicksand. In the 19th century in England, quicksand was carefully destroyed by covering it with stones, sand and rubble. Therefore, now there is practically no danger of meeting them in places where people live. However, in some places, quicksand still awaits its victims. Surprisingly, there is no clear explanation for this phenomenon yet.

There are different hypotheses, certainly interesting. Russian physicist V. Frolov believes that the phenomenon of quicksand is based on electrical effects, due to which friction between grains of sand decreases and the sand becomes viscous and fluid. Viscosity can spread to a depth of several meters, the soil becomes unstable and sucks in any object or living creature. There is an assumption that the main reason that sand attracts various objects lies in the shape of individual grains of sand. All of them are of the correct spherical shape. This is why any heavy object sinks so easily when passing “through” them.

The American scientist J. Clark has been studying the phenomenon of quicksand for a long time. He believes that these sands were mixed with water, so they acquired the properties of a liquid medium. Clark suggests that quicksand is a special state of sand. It may appear in different places, if there is exposure to water. For example, if the surface is regularly flooded with water during high tide, or if there is an underground river under the surface.

In England, near Morecambe Bay, there is a place called Arnside. There are regular tides there. At low tide, the water recedes several kilometers, revealing the bottom of the bay. If you step on the sand, which seems very stable, you can immediately find yourself pulled down. It is impossible to save yourself, so many die.

A very beautiful place, Tarnagen Fjord in Alaska, is also dangerous. It is also not recommended to be there during low tide. Many people know about an island called Sable. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean 180 kilometers from the coast. There are many reefs in its vicinity, which often cause shipwrecks. The remains of the broken ships on the shore are covered with sand.

There are a lot of quicksands not only in Alaska, but also in the Sahara. It is known that in the desert entire caravans can disappear into the sand. Scientists have discovered that there is an underground river beneath the Sahara, which may be why the surface becomes so treacherous.

Quicksand is dangerous not only for an individual person or animal. Can go underground the whole city. This is exactly what happened in 1692. An entire area of the city of Port Royale was caught in the quicksand. The city was located on a sandy surface, which is why the tragedy happened. On June 7, 1692, an earthquake occurred. Historical chronicles tell how some residents of the city immediately fell into the ground, others were sucked in up to their knees or waist. The earthquake lasted several minutes. Then the sand immediately turned into a solid mass that held people captive. Many died. In the 19th century, on the site of the lost city, the remains of the walls of collapsed houses were still visible, and in 1907, after another earthquake, everything went underground.