Measuring Muskeg Puddle Depth

From looking at the surface, it’s hard to know how far you might sink down into the slurry of decaying organic matter that makes up the bottom of muskeg puddles if you had the adventure of falling in. Though I am sure it varies from puddle to puddle, earlier this year Connor took advantage of a long piece of wood to test out how deep one particular puddle was. It turned out that he could have hopped in without going over his head, though he didn’t opt to try it out.

Questions:

  • Have you ever waded (or fallen) in a muskeg puddle? How deep was it?
  • What consistency (of mud) is required for suction to make it difficult to get out?
  • What makes up the solid floor below the mud? (volcanic ash? bedrock?)
  • What causes a muskeg puddle to form?
  • How stable are puddles, that is over what time period do they fill in and/or form?

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