Mystery holes form at Indiana Dunes

Obviously someone is out there at night doing some sand fishing.


Seriously, though - the fact that the holes are small(ish), yet they do not collapse right away - that is weird.

Christ imagine falling into a sink hole in the sand, couldn't think of a worst way to go choking on dry sand

Beats me vasa, but there are holes in Russian taiga too....strange they should appear here also....

originally posted by: TritonTaranis
Christ imagine falling into a sink hole in the sand, couldn't think of a worst way to go choking on dry sand

Yeah....that would really be a bad way to go.

It's so sad they're closing down parts of the park. I grew up on those dunes. My family parked their camper there for summer, it was our home base.

There was a nice path from the campground to the lake but us kids always went cross country through woods over dunes to the lake front, what a view. I never once saw any holes???

I miss those dunes but now I live down the road from the Great Sand Dunes here in CO. The Medano creek flows along side, it comes from altitude so there's a strong current. It's a blast to play in, reminds me a bit of the dunes in Indiana but CO's are taller.

Haven't seen any holes in our dunes. It is quite a bit drier here but the Indiana Dunes/lakefront has always been a very wet place. Don't understand why there's such a problem now?

Hope they don't have to close down the dunes permanently. Glad I conquered Mt. Baldy back in the day.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

There is nothing new about the cause in the local papers...the Mt. Baldy dune is closed for the year...

The entire set of sand dunes in the Indiana National Lakeshore are classified as wandering dunes.

Considering sand dunes need something to catch them and build upon, it would not surprise me to find the vegetation or other organic material upon which these dunes first formed has now deteriorated and that is the casue of the holes...

I am willing to bet it is ground water seeping into/out of the lake from an underground flow of some kind, and it is causing sink holes as it works its way into or out of Lake Michigan.

But then, that was just a thought on what could cause something like that.

Here's a thought, they say the Great Lakes were made by glaciers that advanced on land, and goughed the land, Or so I was taught in school, maybe some of the sediment, that was left over at the bottom became eroded, and is causing the holes? The last time I was there, it was too far away from the water, for the water to do it, Yes, I know there is still water under ground, but if that were the cause, it would be pretty clear.

Just an educated guess. I went to Chesterton High, where the Dunes are.

And yes, Mt. Baldy was said to move. Beautiful place.

It could be dry quicksand. Never seen in nature but created in the lab in 2004.

What makes dry quicksand so deadly?

Beware! Sand in This Physics Lab May Eat You Alive

Then the question would be, how the sand became aerated. That could be accomplished by ultra-microscopic explosions. The original OP article stated that when the child fell into one of these holes there was a researcher close enough to hear his cries for help. Perhaps something that was being tested had unexpected consequences?