Mysterious sand dune holes
baffled Indiana for years.
For years, mysterious 10-feet deep sand holes
kept appearing, then disappearing in dunes at a national park in Indiana. After
multiple people—including a six-year-old boy—fell in, scientists discovered
that the holes were formed when sand-covered trees decayed over time.
A
2016 study by Indiana University Northwest's department of geosciences found that
the trees were once covered in fungi that formed a cement-like substance that
held its shape even when the tree rotted away. When the cement-like covering
and the sand around it eventually gave way, it formed the holes.
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