Barry Gaw.. age 7, of Ottawa  Canada.

 Does quicksand have a bottom?

Terrible stories are told of bogs and quicksand. Peoples animals and even heavy earns are .said to have been sucked down forever into the soft ground. Some of these tales are true. That is why  when we travel in new territory we keep to the trails and watch out for damp spots. For once stuck in this treacherous ground. it is very hard to get unstuck.

.A bog is a muddy area.. most likely near a lake or river. A. quicksand is a sandy patch often near a beach in a tidal area. There is no such thing as a bottomless bog or quicksand. Sometimes the soft ground reaches down 20 or 30 feet.  But there is always a hard floor at the bottom. The soft ground rests on a solid layer of rock below.

Bogs often form in old lakes. The waters become choked with plants and mosses. Bog moss grows in layers. Each new generation of plants grows on top of a decaying layer of plants below it. The top of such a bog may look as a brilliant green meadow of moss. There is no hint of the spongy mush below.

But underneath is a mixture of rotting mosses, mud and water. The spongy mass is too thick to swim in and too soft to support the weight of a person or a sizable animal. This bog reaches down to the old lake floor. There it rests on the dense rock that once supported they watery lake.

If you were unlucky and fell into such a bog you might sink to the floor below. It may be two feet or 30 feet. You might feel you were being pulled down into the boggy mud but this is not so. You would be just slowly sinking until someone tossed you a rope and pulled you out..

Certain quicksands, however, can suck down a heavy object. quicksand occurs when loose sand rests on a heavy rocky floor. Water seeps into the sand and turns it into a mushy mixture. Like the bog. the quicksand is too thick for swimming and too soft to support a heavy object. When you step onto its you sink through.

The nastiest quicksands are in tidal areas. Here the tide exerts a pull on the water trapped in the sand. The quicksand becomes wetter as the tide rolls in. As the tide rolls out it draws some of the water from the quicksands A such a time a heavy object stuck in the quicksand is pulled down by the ebbing tide.

So  test a new beach before you step on it. Toss in some heavy stones. Try a heavy log or two and maybe the picnic basket. If none of these things sink  your new beach is not quicksand. It is safe for the time being  Best. test it again at high tides For same quicksands drain dry when the tide is low and fill up again when the new tide roils in.