It could be the result of biological soil crusts.
“The effect biocrust has on water infiltration and the amount of water retained in the soil is greatly dependent on which microorganisms are most dominant in the specific forms of biocrust. Most research studies like that done by Canton et al. support that biological soil crust composed of large amounts of moss and lichens are better able to absorb water resulting in good soil infiltration. In comparison, biocrusts that are dominated by cyanobacteria is more likely to cause biological clogging where the pores of the soil are obstructed by the cyanobacteria responding to the presence of moisture by awakening from their dormancy and swelling.”
Except it’s not sand.
I heard on the news there was one death out there.
That was early today.
Hope no more happen.
An act of God, sayeth one Representative from Georgia.
Uhoh, now they have unleashed the triops.
And the flying sea monkeys!
It’s not sand, it’s silt. Ever try to wade around in a pond where the bottom is squishy sticky mud up to your knees? It’s that, but dried up. It’s a LAKE BED, which means any water that falls in the vicinity that exceeds the ability of the spot where it falls to absorb it will run off and pool in the lake bed. Which means that silty thick layer under the crust of the lake bed immediately turns back into squishy sticky mud up to your knees. And then some. Then people try to fire up their vehicles and they churn that sticky mess into an even worse sticky mess and expose even deeper layers of silt to the water, making the sticky mud even deeper. And it’s gonna stay just like that until the normal sun and heat dry it up. Which could be days, could be weeks, might be months. The really fun part is that it dries from the top down, so a crust will form that might make people think it’s solid enough to drive out. And they will find out it’s solid enough to walk on, but the heavy vehicles are gonna crash right through the crust and be embedded in mud again. Repeat until nature decides the water is gone.
I hope they’re all right!
thx, all … clear as silt now!
sounds like the surface is best thought of as “Nes-Mud”
Are those related to horseshoe crabs? Because there is definitely a superficial resemblance.
Well, in a broad sense they are both crustaceans, but they aren’t especially closely related.
I prefer “instant glop”.
It’s the Drowning of the Age of Aquarius!
Horseshoe crabs aren’t crustaceans, they’re chelicerates. Closer to scorpions than shrimp.
Right, both arthropods.
and the thread went full-tilt-Straight-Dope
quite an interesting read on the burning of men
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/06/opinions/burning-man-festival-climate-change-filipovic/index.html
It’s just relabeled Kosher Water.
And it just looks a little damp, then suddenly you are sunk up to the axles. And maybe 10 feet away, its dry as a popcorn fart and dusty. Fun indeed!
The author of this is confident as to the important message: “Climate change is here, and it’s coming for all of us.”
But I’m skeptical - not of climate change, but the extent to which a modest amount of rain during a 9-day period should be taken as an indication of it. Googling seems to indicate it was a half-inch or so - definitely less than one inch. This in an area that averages ~15 inches per year, and thus on average expects a half-inch per 12 days.
That’s probably not spread out equally over a whole year. Lots of places expect more rain in some months than others.
I did a search and found some data for Black Rock Desert. Surprisingly, the rainiest month is August. Strictly speaking, 1.6 inches of rain during a 31-day period centered on August 3. That drops to 0.5 inches for the 31 days around November 14. A half inch in one day at the beginning of September may be more unusual than a simple average makes it sound.