Again, if the surface is still, then you have stepped off into very weak ground - probably a silt or organic "mud", not clay. And while I have no doubt that a high salt content could create a "hydrogel"-type condition, this is weak ground, not quicksand. So quicksands would contain very little, if any, clay. Since clays act as a binder, even a small percentage of clay would tend to impart too much strength to the soil. It's a basic geometry problem - groundwater flow needs to be primarily upward. In fact, this condition is more likely to form where the soils - and groundwater upflows - are more than 10 feet deep. There's absolutely no reason to believe that this condition primarily occurs in thin layers, either. Sand boils can occur when the upward flow of water exceeds the velocity needed to form a "quick" condition. ![]() The quick condition occurs when the upward force of the water equals the buoyant weight of the soil particles. In general, it's a combination of fine sands, silts and an upward flow of groundwater. From a geotechnical engineering perspective, quicksand isn't a distinct material. My background is geotechnical engineering, not geology - so I spend a lot of time looking at soil mechanics and groundwater movement. I'm having difficulty with the main premise of many of the statements made on this topic. This usefulness is my judge of the value of soils related articles. The article now is not useful to a student in a soils mechanics class from the perspective of technical detail and data. When I have some time I'm going try and dig up sources, and create a section for the geotechnical definition. My understanding of quick sand matches Focht3's statements very close. I'm a Civil Engineer and deal with soil mechanics regularly. This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Geology Wikipedia:WikiProject Geology Template:WikiProject Geology Geology articles If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page for more information. ![]() Quicksand is part of WikiProject Geology, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use geology resource. This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. This article has been rated as Start-Class on the project's quality scale. Soil Wikipedia:WikiProject Soil Template:WikiProject Soil Soil articles Quicksand is within the scope of WikiProject Soil, which collaborates on Soil and related articles on Wikipedia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |