sand boil
**Definition:** A small eruption of sand and water that breaks through the ground surface during an earthquake, caused by liquefaction — pressurized groundwater forcing its way upward through liquefied soil and carrying sand with it. Sand boils leave behind small cones or craters of wet sand, sometimes called sand volcanoes. They are among the most unsettling visual evidence of liquefaction: the ground vomiting its own substance.
A small eruption of sand and water that breaks through the ground surface during an earthquake, caused by liquefaction — pressurized groundwater forcing its way upward through liquefied soil and carrying sand with it. Sand boils leave behind small cones or craters of wet sand, sometimes called sand volcanoes. They are among the most unsettling visual evidence of liquefaction: the ground vomiting its own substance.
Etymology
English compound — the sand boils up to the surface, as if heated from below.
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