Posted on 03/07/2024 1:15:17 PM PST by nickcarraway
Dr. Stephen Leatherman from Florida International University's Department of Earth and Environment warns that deep holes in the sand can be a "death trap."
The collapse of a sand hole that killed a 7-year-old Indiana girl who was digging with her brother on a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beach is an underrecognized danger that kills and injures several children a year around the country.
Sloan Mattingly died Tuesday afternoon when a 5-to-6-foot-deep hole collapsed on her and her 9-year-old brother, Maddox. The boy was buried up to his chest, but the girl was fully covered.
What is a sand hole and why can they be dangerous?
A sand hole is what it sounds like — a hole in the sand. Plenty of beachgoers, especially children, enjoy digging as deep as they can. But the bigger the hole, the more dangerous it can be.
Dr. Stephen Leatherman from Florida International University's Department of Earth and Environment told NBC6 that deep holes can be a "death trap." If you're gonna dig a hole in the sand, make sure it's no more than two feet deep.
"When people dig holes more than two feet deep and get in them, at least where their body's below the sand level, sand starts drying out immediately," Leatherman said. "And dry sand can only hold a 33-degree angle, and people dig these holes almost vertically."
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcmiami.com ...
All true, and highly unusual, mostly in beach sand which has “hollows” in it from water incursion and then dropping down carrying the above sand down creating a gap.
That is a way deeper hole than your typical kid digs with a plastic pail and shovel. Where the heck were the parents?!
Reminds me of the antlion sand trap. How does the insect know the correct angle in making the trap?
“And dry sand can only hold a 33-degree angle, and people dig these holes almost vertically.”
I’d never thought about that. You dig through the dry sand to the wet sand underneath and make vertical walls. Then it dries out, collapses and you are buried.
Poor little girl. What a horrific way to die and the grief of her parents and brother must be unimaginable. A fun family vacation at the beach and this happens.
I think it is physics. The angle is as steep as possible under humidity present.
The problem is the angle of repose is about 90 degrees in wet sand, then it dries out and changes to 30 degrees.
I can’t imagine 2 kids under 10 digger something that deep, I suspect some one else dug most of it, and then left, and they thought it was cool and continued it.
Which is why they advise that if you dig a hole at the beach, make sure you fill it back up before you leave.
On an episode of “what on earth” they found that a rotting tree trunk beneath the surface can cause this type of hole. I think that story was about a beach on one of the great lakes so tree issue more likely.
I have warned my local golf pro of the dangers of sand traps but the refuse to remove them.
Joe Biden will announce a 5 billon dollar sand hold safety initiative tonight .
8,000 new govt jobs will come from it
Devil’s chimneys. I’ve heard the old time sand dune trekkers around here would carry a fairly stout stick, held horizontally, in case they stepped on one. I found one...top of a dune with some dead treetops exposed. Probably buried trees of 50-60 foot height. I was spry enough to jump out, back then. A tube in the sand. About 16” diameter, 10-12 feet deep. Kinda creepy.
Right after he claims he was sand engineer during the dust bowl years, and that son Beau died in a sand hole in Iraq.
**when a 5-to-6-foot-deep hole collapsed on her and her 9-year-old brother,***
I remember something similar happening to kids in Japan many years ago.
Sand holes are the toxic byproduct of white supremacy, colonialism, and toxic masculinity .
Government action is needed to eliminate this threat to our future.
The operative phrase is “angle of repose.”
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