I have never encountered squeaky sand before today. Never even heard of it. The New England sand on the beaches that I’m accustomed to is brown and sharp. Walk across it for a couple of hours and it begins to feels like broken glass. Strolling on the powdered sugar sand in other parts of the world is a silky, silent caress. Today, while jogging at the beach where I’m now living outside of Sydney, Australia, I thought I heard a strange sound each time my feet hit the soft yellow sand. Squeaks. I listened closer. Definitely I was not imagining this. The sand was squeaking like an old treadmill with each imprint of my feet. Why is this sand squeaking, I wondered. I finished my jog, walked home and set about to finding out.
I quickly came across an Australian ABC television program called Catalyst in which Ruben Meerman interviewed Dr. Tim Senden, an expert on fine particles such as sand. Squeaky sand, it turns out, is found in many parts of the world. Dr. Senden explained that, unlike regular, boring, silent sand, squeaky sand is dry and composed of smooth, round grains of quartz with no shell material intermixed. This in part explains why some sand squeaks and other sand is mute, but not entirely. “It’s an open topic,” Dr. Senden said. Scientists still don’t have enough information to fully understand why certain sand squeaks.
Squeaky sand may still be a bit of a mystery, but I did shoot a video while jogging that captures the sound, if not the reason behind it, fairly well.
Uh-Oh, Sabina’s watchin’ TV again. That’ll take a big bite outa her travel tales! Hope it was for instructional purposes only.
Sabina, somewhere within 1/2 a mile of where you’re at, there’s 100 great photos and stories. Get out there and capture them before your time down there runs out !
Do like me. I plan on watchin’ TV when I’m dead !
Cheers,
Mike
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 07:27
I don’t know how to operate the tv. I looked it up on the internet when I got home.
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Love this one Sabina. Squeaky sand! What will they think of next?
Nick´s last [type] ..Do you see what I see
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 11th, 2010 at 05:36
Perhaps singing waves.
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[...] Lohr of Solo Female Traveler encounters “squeaky sand.” No, really. It squeaks. (My theory: it’s possessed by the souls of a thousand [...]
That’s just freaky! I love Geraldine’s guess about what it is.
Gray´s last [type] ..A Room For One- Norwegian Epic’s Studio Staterooms
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 11th, 2010 at 05:38
Yeah, it is a pretty freaky/cool thing. Except the past few days the sand has been wet, so no squeaking.
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Hahaha, totally have never heard of this. How freaking cool. And that beach! Ahhhh, the beach! Amazing.
Candice´s last [type] ..Being Laid Off is Apparently Blogging Goldmine
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 14th, 2010 at 18:25
Yes, that beach really is truly beautiful.
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I have never heard, in more ways than one, of squeaky sand. Thanks for sharing the actual squeaks. Seems so strange to hear on a beach.
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 17:49
It’s funny. You’ll be walking along, and suddenly the sand starts squeaking.
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Hi Sabina,
I went to Pennsicola Florida and the beach sand was white like sugar and VERY SQUEAKY!
Anyway, where are you now? I hope somewhere exotic.
I love your blog; Please post photos!
Gina in Arizona
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