A Sandy Freaky Friday...!

Some of these features for Freaky Friday are places that can actually be visited right here in the good ol' USA. This is just of them.

You'll have to excuse me for not wanting to visit places like this, but I have a real aversion to being eaten by a giant sandy sink hole.

Mount Baldy’s Randomly Appearing Holes

In 2013, a six-year-old boy exploring the sand dunes of Mount Baldy in Indiana Dunes National Park was swallowed by a sinkhole that suddenly appeared beneath him. The boy recovered after a three-hour ordeal in which he was buried under a little more than 3 meters (11 ft) of sand, and other sinkholes have been randomly appearing ever since.

Geologists are baffled by the phenomenon at Mount Baldy. As the landscape is made of sand, which doesn’t create air pockets, none of the conditions necessary for sinkholes to form should be present. In fact, when the sinkholes do occur, they only last about a day before they’re filled in with surrounding sand. The use of ground-penetrating radar has yielded no clues.

A year after the first sinkhole was seen, they’re not only still appearing, they pop up with such frequency that the park is still off-limits. In an attempt to stabilize the sand dune, grasses are being planted with the hope that their root system will stop erosion and ground-shifting. Some scientists believe that the instability of the sand dune may have something to do with its rather storied history, which includes supplying much of the sand once used to make Mason jars.

Living close to the Texas coast, I don't mind the sand at the beach or the dunes. I do have a problem with any sudden appearance of child gobbling sink holes that no one can explain, though. I'm funny that way, I guess!

Coffee outside this morning. Warning here...it was 83 at 3 in the morning, so beware!

Sinkhole Mystery For Monday...!

This is another one of those mysteries that takes place right here in the U.S. and can be (almost) visited!

Nature is beautiful and can be strange, as we all know. This story is a very good example of that.

Mount Baldy Sinkholes

Photo credit: Ejdzej/Wikimedia

 

At 37 meters (123 ft), Mount Baldy is the tallest sand dune on the southern edge of Lake Michigan. Indiana advertises the tourist attraction as “living” because it moves a meter or two every year. The dune began to move when visitors wore away the grass holding it together. That’s no mystery; it’s caused by the wind. It’s the dune’s ability to swallow children that puzzles scientists.

In July 2013, six-year-old Nathan Woessner was buried when a 3-meter (11 ft) hole suddenly formed beneath him. It took three hours to dig him out, thankfully alive. The next month, a second hole appeared. Deep air pockets aren’t supposed to be able to form in sand dunes, because the sand should immediately fill any gaps.

“We’re seeing what appears to be a new geological phenomenon,” said geologist Erin Argyilan, who is leading an investigation. She was working nearby the day Nathan was swallowed and is emotionally invested in finding the answer. 

The dune may cover trees, which rot away to create the holes. The dune was once mined to use the sand in glass making, so the phenomenon may be caused by humans. In the meantime, the dune is very much closed to the public.

I don't think that this is the place to try and build any sand castles, do you? I wonder if any of our northern readers have ever seen this place. You would tell us, right?

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Chocolate pie to go along with it!