The sand pit

The mysterious emergence of dangerous 'cannibal' sand dunes in Mount Baldy Mountain, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore National Park, has made scientists confused about how to explain.

The story of the mysterious sand holes emerged last summer when a 6-year-old boy named Nathan Woessner was sucked into a sand pit while walking around Mount Baldy.

Little Nathan was buried deep in the sand to 11 feet (3.4 meters) making the rescue work very difficult. It took 3 hours for the boy to be rescued from the sand pit. This event confused the public.

The strange sand pit in Mount Baldy has closed the area to avoid danger for visitors

Ever since Nathan's accident in the 'cannibal' sand hole, such sand holes have appeared more, forcing the National Parks Service (NPS) here to close the area to prevent Next accident occurred.

'Mount Baldy' is one of the most visited attractions in the national park, attracting thousands of visitors each year but the appearance of holes on the surface of sand dunes poses a danger to the public. Our first obligation was to put the interests of the visitors first in order for them to have an enjoyable trip , 'said Garry Traynham, head of the national park.

Experts from the US Environmental Protection Agency are using ground-based radar to investigate strange sand holes in Mount Baldy

The appearance of mysterious sand holes also attracted scientists interested in research. According to Geology Professor at Inadiana Erin Argyilan Northwestern University, the person who witnessed the sight of the young Nathan falling into the sand pit said that this is a phenomenon deeply affected by geology . After the incident, from last year, other experts came to the site to explore the strange sand holes in Mount Baldy.

However, because the sand holes are too deep, the experts cannot approach and penetrate directly. Scientists used ground radar to investigate sand holes. In July 2013, authorities in Inadiana state also investigated two mysterious sand holes. But the explanation of these sand holes is still very limited.

During the first investigation, experts discovered that some abnormalities were taking place under Mount Baldy. But they are still trying to figure out what these anomalies have to do with the sudden appearance of sand holes. The strange thing about these sand holes appears suddenly and lasts about a day and then collapses.

Mount Baldy's bunkers are very dangerous if someone needs to be sucked into it.(Illustration)

Some scientists conjecture that this is a phenomenon of sand subsidence . This phenomenon allows the sand to fall quickly inside to really exist, although it was only seen in the Tarzan forest movie earlier. Sand subsidence combined with moist sand and water above looks like a solid, but it can collapse into a liquid form if there is a heavy object, such as a person or an animal, acting on it. After liquefaction, the sand mixture tends to be strengthened and suck the human or animal's feet into the sandy areas.

Besides, there is also the form of dry sand subsidence . According to laboratory experiments indicated, artificial sand can suck an object on its surface. However, dry sand subsidence has never been observed in nature. Meanwhile Mount Baldy is a dry sandy area.

Currently scientists are still conducting research to explain this strange phenomenon. Meanwhile to prevent sand holes from getting worse, NPS began planting grass on a large sand hill to keep sand dunes more stable from the roots of plants. National park authorities believe grass can help prevent the emergence of sand holes.