# What's the name of those 'holes' that suck people down in sand dunes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 22, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025 "2017-04-22T22:07:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/1 "2017-04-22T22:07:17Z")
I recall that there are ‘sand traps’ in large dunes that are kind of like dry quicksand. As I understand it, there is a void below the sand, and the sand covering the void is bridging it. When someone steps on the covering sand, he falls into the hole and the surrounding sand flows in over him. Is there a name for these things other than ‘sand trap’? Any articles on them, describing how they work? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/2 "2017-04-22T22:34:10Z")
[Fech fech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fech_fech) in Arabic (or fesh fesh). Can pose a serious threat to [vehicles](http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/fech-fech/). ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/3 "2017-04-22T22:36:46Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/4 "2017-04-23T01:34:24Z")
As long as it’s not “ant lion trap”… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/5 "2017-04-23T01:38:33Z")
I was thinking “sarlaac”, myself. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/6 "2017-04-23T02:13:39Z")
> [@susan](#): > > As long as it’s not “ant lion trap”… > [@Chronos](#): > > I was thinking “sarlaac”, myself. or a sandworm. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/7 "2017-04-23T02:46:07Z")
Lightning sand. Followed rapidly by R.O.U.S.'s. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/8 "2017-04-23T03:06:46Z")
IIRC these “sand traps” arise as follows: Back in the day there are these group of trees near the shore the act as a breakwind. Over several centuries the breakwind amasses so much sand that the resulting dune drowns the tree…which dry-rots away. One day some hapless soul accidently steps on the top of a rotted-out trunk and falls down a cylinder of cellulose the consistency of sawdust. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/9 "2017-04-23T03:47:20Z")
Here’s a good story about them. > **[The Mystery of Why This Dangerous Sand Dune Swallowed a Boy](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/mystery-why-dangerous-sand-dune-swallowed-boy-180953404/?spMailingID=21737958&spJobID=442390159&page=1&spReportId=NDQyMzkwMTU5S0&spUserID=NzQwNDU1MjA2MTYS1)** > > When a boy suddenly disappeared into a sand dune, a scientist embarked on a quest to find out where he went ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/10 "2017-04-23T04:13:57Z")
I thought the answer was “golf”. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/11 "2017-04-23T12:47:00Z")
Not an example of a sucking sand hole, but one of a different weird sand phenomenon. Almost 20 years ago, I was hiking along a trail in Oregon. It was a clear, hot, dry day on the desert side of the state, and the air was perfectly still. I came to a low point in the trail - just a 20’ section that looked quite flat in a valley between two low hills - and found that I was walking through an ankle-deep ‘fog’ of dust. There was an opaque layer of suspended dust particles about 4 or 5 inches deep lying in the low spot. My walking through disturbed it in swirls and eddies. From further above, it had looked just like a flat section of sand. I don’t know what kept the particles suspended - electrostatic repulsion, perhaps? Or I just caught the dust in mid-settle? But it was optically dense enough that I couldn’t see my feet through it, or make out any details of the underlying ground, and it looked like it had a discrete surface. I shuffled through the patch in a few seconds, and looked back to see the dust roiling like boiling water. The whole thing was very eerie. The air at eye level was perfectly clear, and there was a sharp demarcation between the clear air and the dust, like immiscible fluids. If there had been a hole there, I would never have seen it, and I doubt that I would have had a good time trying to breathe that dust-laden air if I had fallen into it. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/12 "2017-04-23T14:32:17Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > Almost 20 years ago, I was hiking along a trail in Oregon. It was a clear, hot, dry day on the desert side of the state, and the air was perfectly still. I came to a low point in the trail - just a 20’ section that looked quite flat in a valley between two low hills - and found that I was walking through an ankle-deep ‘fog’ of dust. There was an opaque layer of suspended dust particles about 4 or 5 inches deep lying in the low spot. My walking through disturbed it in swirls and eddies. Diatomaceous earth … its the fossilised remains of diatoms… its like algae. A wind of stable velocity had filtered out the size of the particles. smaller sizes blew away in the wind, to settle when it reachs still air… … larger particles remained on the ground as the wind was not strong enough to lift it . So the soup you had was a similarly sized extract of Diatomaceous earth. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/13 "2017-04-23T14:59:52Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > [Fech fech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fech_fech) in Arabic (or fesh fesh). I don’t think I’ve ever heard that term. Is there another? Did they call it something in _Lawrence Of Arabia_ or _Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome_? (ISTR a similar scene in the latter film.) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-those-holes-that-suck-people-down-in-sand-dunes/785025/14 "2017-04-25T14:01:33Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > [Fech fech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fech_fech) in Arabic (or fesh fesh). Can pose a serious threat to [vehicles](http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/fech-fech/). That doesn’t sound quite like what the OP described, which was a hole covered by sand.