For generations of kids raised on Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes, quicksand was a danger that seemed to lurk around every corner. One false step and you could meet a slow and suffocating demise! Turns out, your chances of being swallowed by a bottomless beach pit are slim-to-none, but quicksand is a real phenomenon and not one to take lightly.
Found throughout the UK on beaches, riverbanks and marshlands, quicksand forms when sand (or clay) becomes waterlogged and loses its structure. In saturated sand, friction between the grains plunges. Agitate that sand by walking on it and the grains will slip past one another and the surface beneath your feet will liquefy and collapse.