Mystery holes form at Indiana Dunes

That is the headline and a strange story at that....

Officials have shut down a popular public sand dune in Indiana where mysterious holes are appearing—one of which swallowed up a boy for three hours last summer, the Times of Northwest Indiana reports.

Two more holes have opened up since then and other depressions have been sighted, prompting the shut-down of Mount Baldy at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. But no one knows why it's happening; the holes, which measure about a foot in diameter, exist for no more than 24 hours, at which point they collapse and are refilled with neighboring sand.

I would think that holes forming in sand dunes would immediately fill, not take 24 hours to do so. I wonder how many of these they have found...would guess a lot have formed and filled that they don't know about as well.

Source

Here are some pics from another source.




And it appears they have closed the Mount Baldy dune area because of the danger.

Source

A recent investigation by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning the development of depressions and open holes in the Mt. Baldy (dune) at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, a unit of the National Park Service, established that ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) is a viable tool to image the stratigraphy of the dune. Specifically, the geophysical technique was capable of imaging to a depth of ~30 ft and recognizing a buried soil horizon that was an exposed part of the dune in the middle of the 20th century. The study also plotted known depressions/holes, and these features appeared to align themselves with the relict, buried southeastern‐sloping slip face of the dune that was similarly exposed in the mid‐20th century. The current working hypothesis is that natural (trees and brush) or anthropogenic (structures or debris) materials were buried by the rapid landward movement of the dune during the late 1900s. The age of the materials and the wet conditions during the spring of 2013 may have forced these materials to become unstable, collapsing and creating openings to the surface.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

You forgot this one, maybe from Turner News Network:

originally posted by: Aleister
a reply to: Vasa Croe

You forgot this one, maybe from Turner News Network:

Ha! I think I would lose it if I saw that coming out. Would be crazy though if they found some new species that lived under the sand.

I can see all the hollow earth people posting now....saying the aliens in the earth are finally coming out to do their work....LOL!

a reply to: Vasa Croe

I was expecting a larger hole than that before looking at the pictures. Maybe there are small pockets giving way underneath and that sand needs to drop somewhere. Still curious about the size...

Thats pretty crazy, but probably something to do with the decaying trees, or mining activities. I've spent a lot of time in the dunes of California, (Pismo and Glamis) but I've never seen anything like this.

The pictures in the second post are certainly interesting, they look like they were dug by a post-hole digger, or a giant worm! (The bottom two anyways)

Neat find.

originally posted by: QuantumDeath
a reply to: Vasa Croe

I was expecting a larger hole than that before looking at the pictures. Maybe there are small pockets giving way underneath and that sand needs to drop somewhere. Still curious about the size...

Apparently they are large enough and deep enough to swallow a kid. The story says a 6 year old was swallowed by one and the firefighters found him under 11 feet of sand.

originally posted by: OuttaOC
Thats pretty crazy, but probably something to do with the decaying trees, or mining activities. I've spent a lot of time in the dunes of California, (Pismo and Glamis) but I've never seen anything like this.

The pictures in the second post are certainly interesting, they look like they were dug by a post-hole digger, or a giant worm! (The bottom two anyways)

Neat find.[/quote

They do look very uniform and perfect. The bottom pic almost looks like something came out of the hole where the darker debris is....

The second article suggests trees that have decayed underground, but if that were the case then how would they decay all at once from the top down so a perfect hole would form that deep? If it is from underground mining, wouldn't the hole be larger and how would multiples be forming like this?

It is really odd to me that so many of these have formed that they are closing the area off. Anyone know if there was mining or something of the sort going on in this area at some point in time?

The second article suggests trees that have decayed underground, but if that were the case then how would they decay all at once from the top down so a perfect hole would form that deep? If it is from underground mining, wouldn't the hole be larger and how would multiples be forming like this?

I was almost too quick to make those comments! Heh, i was just regurgitating the articles info, but after seeing the second pics, mining is pretty much out of the question!

The one idea about the trees, perhaps a flood, covering the grove of trees with sediment, years and years ago. But there are no tree tops, , could they have broken off or eroded by being submerged in water years ago?

Are they old drill holes that are significantly deeper than they appear, but have caved in on top of themselves? Like old core samples?

originally posted by: OuttaOC

The second article suggests trees that have decayed underground, but if that were the case then how would they decay all at once from the top down so a perfect hole would form that deep? If it is from underground mining, wouldn't the hole be larger and how would multiples be forming like this?

I was almost too quick to make those comments! Heh, i was just regurgitating the articles info, but after seeing the second pics, mining is pretty much out of the question!

The one idea about the trees, perhaps a flood, covering the grove of trees with sediment, years and years ago. But there are no tree tops, , could they have broken off or eroded by being submerged in water years ago?

Are they old drill holes that are significantly deeper than they appear, but have caved in on top of themselves? Like old core samples?

I thought they looked like core sample holes too, but I would think that sand would have long since filled in on itself if these were old drill holes or core samples or something similar. Logically I can only think they are cause by a few things, erosion, decay or some new species digging its way out....LOL

Nothing as simple as critters coming out for the summer and being bummed out because it's so cold. They just want to keep people out so they can sell the dunes off.

originally posted by: mikell
Nothing as simple as critters coming out for the summer and being bummed out because it's so cold. They just want to keep people out so they can sell the dunes off.

Hmmm....I had not thought about that angle. Make it look as if something bad is happening so you can sell the dunes off to the highest bidder. Now that would be sneaky.

double post.....

I live about twenty minutes away. I remember when the kid was swallowed up last summer.

The dune in question is nothing like it was when I was growing up in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. At one time it was nearly 400 feet tall. Now it is not even 150 feet tall.

There used to be another, larger dune that was next to it, but that dune was entirely removed and the sand was utilized by the Ball family to make mason jars for canning...

originally posted by: totallackey
I live about twenty minutes away. I remember when the kid was swallowed up last summer.

The dune in question is nothing like it was when I was growing up in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. At one time it was nearly 400 feet tall. Now it is not even 150 feet tall.

There used to be another, larger dune that was next to it, but that dune was entirely removed and the sand was utilized by the Ball family to make mason jars for canning...

Well that is sad about the dunes disappearing. Do you have any ideas as to what could be causing the holes or is there any word floating around the area about it?

You never know what us humans did in the past. It could have a man made origin or it could just be a quickening of the earth coupled with natural settling. Either way, the energy level of the land around there must be increasing or there is a drawdown of the water level. For quickening to occur, you need sand, salt, and energy.

Antlion holes

or

Phase IV...

originally posted by: jrflipjr
Antlion holes

or

Phase IV...

LOL....that would be a massive antlion....I know I would not want to run into that one. And that movie trailer was really trippy....will have to watch that one sometime soon.

What strikes me as another odd piece to this story is that it has been happening for over a year now and they still haven't figured out what is causing these. I am wondering if the frequency of holes forming has gotten larger since they were first noticed and wonder if they are all roughly the same size and over what distance these holes have been formed.

originally posted by: totallackey
I live about twenty minutes away. I remember when the kid was swallowed up last summer.

The dune in question is nothing like it was when I was growing up in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. At one time it was nearly 400 feet tall. Now it is not even 150 feet tall.

There used to be another, larger dune that was next to it, but that dune was entirely removed and the sand was utilized by the Ball family to make mason jars for canning...

I grew up there to lackey. It would take me 15 minutes to walk to the Shell station on 20 and 149, The dune we are

talking about is Mount Baldy. and as far as I know, no one can get onto it, because that access is closed, and apparently

for good reason. I heard about the kid to, I'm glad they got him out. I'd say the only thing I miss about up there is the

Dunes. I use to love to go up there at night and just sit in the dark and listen to the waves.

Other than that, I feel for you, It's a nice place to visit, you couldn't pay me to live there again.

Did you go on field trips to the Dunes to learn about the "Singing Sand"?

Tell you what, you definatly don't want to go across the sand barefooted on a 95- 100 degree day

living up there