A man steps on what seems like solid ground but discovers with horror that the ground is _ beneath his feet. The man struggles desperately, but he is trapped. He cannot escape. Slowly he sinks deeper and deeper until at last he is gone, buried in the treacherous earth. The solid ground was solid only in appearance. It was actually quicksand, which is a deep mass of fine sand mixed with water. How is quicksand formed? Water pushes up from below the surface and is held by the sand. The grains of sand are forced apart by the water. They cannot hold any weight. The subsurface water may have come from a spring, a river or a stream. Sometimes pools of water near beaches become filled with sand. When the soil under these pools does not allow for good drainage , the sand can become stretches of quicksand. Is it true that a man who steps into quicksand is doomed to  die? No, for men have fought their way from quicksand to firm land again. It is panic  that creates the condition that can result in death, for the more a person struggles, the worse matters become. Quick movements will make the sand give way temporarily , but then it rushes and settles solidly around the body. A man trapped in quicksand should either lie back, or not move at all, except to stretch out his arms. When the weight of the sand his body has displaced equals his weight, he will stop sinking. With feet held still, and with slow movements of the arms, as in the backstroke in swimming men can manage to roll to safety and reach firm ground. What is quicksand?
A piece of solid ground mixed with water. A pool near the beach filled with water. A deep mass of fine sand mixed with water. A piece of sinking land in the water.