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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Branwen Jones

Strange bubbles on Welsh beach turn out to be sinking sand

An unusual sight was found on a beach in Pembrokeshire over the weekend. On Sunday a couple encountered bubbles coming up from the sand at Saundersfoot beach and while taking a closer look they found on what seemed to be sinking sand.

The local husband and wife, who take a walk on their beloved Pembrokeshire attraction every day, had found the bubble not far down the beach. The wife said: "We go down Saundersfoot beach every day to walk our dog and decided to go quickly in between the rain showers.

"We just walked straight down from the slipway and saw the sand bubbling not very far down the beach. We didn't know what it was so my husband bravely asked me to step in it to see what would happen.

Read more: 'Scary' flooding at Tesco store as huge deluge of rain soaks Wales in just a few hours

"The sand was like sinking sand. I had wellies on and my whole welly went down and could have kept going further if I didn't pull it out. It was quite scary because the tide was coming in. It could be dangerous if someone got stuck."

According to a spokesman for Pembrokeshire Coast National Park authority the likely cause is an underground spring. They said: “The most likely cause of this phenomenon is an underground spring beneath the sand as there are several of them situated between the areas of Amroth and Saundersfoot.”

A spring is the point at which groundwater discharges onto the surface. Water moves at different rates though the ground depending on its flow path and the permeability of the geological layers.

Springs occur when water pressure causes a natural flow of groundwater onto the earth's surface. One geological structure commonly associated with springs is a layer of permeable soil or rock overlying an impermeable one.

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