Quicksand Fans

I think this has been posted before, but it is still pretty interesting

Short documentary on a quick clay slide in Norway in 1978. Amazing footage of it in progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q-qfNlEP4A

Crazy stuff, and I had never heard of that disaster. Thx.

A while back, I linked to an interesting part of that documentary showing how salt can turn liquid clay into thick peanut butter-like consistency, and wondered if the addition of salt could make clay pits of lower density relative to their thickness. Here is that part of the documentary:

https://youtu.be/3q-qfNlEP4A?t=175

Boggy Man wrote:A while back, I linked to an interesting part of that documentary showing how salt can turn liquid clay into thick peanut butter-like consistency, and wondered if the addition of salt could make clay pits of lower density relative to their thickness. Here is that part of the documentary:

https://youtu.be/3q-qfNlEP4A?t=175

Would salt cause some problems with contact with bare skin, if you were thinking of your own pits though? I know clean up is pretty well a given after a sink a sink but I wondered what prolonged exposure might do?

tanya_wam wrote:

Boggy Man wrote:A while back, I linked to an interesting part of that documentary showing how salt can turn liquid clay into thick peanut butter-like consistency, and wondered if the addition of salt could make clay pits of lower density relative to their thickness. Here is that part of the documentary:

https://youtu.be/3q-qfNlEP4A?t=175

Would salt cause some problems with contact with bare skin, if you were thinking of your own pits though? I know clean up is pretty well a given after a sink a sink but I wondered what prolonged exposure might do?

Up to, roughly, the concentration of seawater, salt should be just fine, possibly beneficial to the skin. "Normal saline" which is used medically to clean wounds and other things, is salt water at exactly the concentration found in blood, and that is only slightly different from seawater. In an artificial pit, however, it would probably be quite harmful to surrounding plant life.

Fred588 wrote: In an artificial pit, however, it would probably be quite harmful to surrounding plant life.

I assume most pits are made with liners, so the nearby plants aren't actually using them as water sources. Seems like it would be the same as vegetation growing near chlorinated or salt water in-ground pools.

Perhaps the run-off from a clean-up area would be detrimental, but even then, the concentration would be very small.

Not necessarily. My peat pits have liners but the clay does not except for the fact that the bentonite clay itself serves to seal the pit walls.

Chimerix wrote:

Fred588 wrote: In an artificial pit, however, it would probably be quite harmful to surrounding plant life.

I assume most pits are made with liners, so the nearby plants aren't actually using them as water sources. Seems like it would be the same as vegetation growing near chlorinated or salt water in-ground pools.

Perhaps the run-off from a clean-up area would be detrimental, but even then, the concentration would be very small.

I forgot to mention that the addition of salt to thicken clay doesn't work on bentonite. Here is the original thread:

http://www.quicksandfans.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9708

Thanks for sharing this.