The presence of a sand boil beneath the field could cause Alex Box Stadium to sink or flood if the University halted efforts to fix the problem.
A sand boil is a location in which water is bubbling out onto the ground surface and are typically found by a levee, said Dean Adrian, a civil and environmental engineering professor.
During a flood time, the water in the river will try to travel through the ground to lower elevations. In this case, water seeps in through the soil under the levee from the Mississippi River.
Hydraulic pressure from high water in the river forces water through layers of earth or sand under the levee. This water then boils up on the other side, and water pours out of these boils during a flood.
“It’s a potential problem along any river that has levees,” Adrian said. “There are reports of sand boil problems near the Feather River in California, the Yellow River in China and the Danube River in Europe. Engineers worldwide are worrying about this.”
Alex Box Stadium is prone to sand boils, but is not necessarily in danger of experiencing major problems, because the University has installed an intricate underground drainage system to protect the field from flooding.
“Apparently, they have put in a drainage system underneath the field,” Adrian said. “Water that would be bubbling up is now intercepted and carried away through pipes.”
The baseball stadium is not the only location on campus prone to sand boils. When the river is high, water seeps through cracks in the concrete of the Vet School parking lot, which is significantly closer to the levee than Alex Box.
The University has drilled relief wells in several locations around the Vet School to push out water when it seeps in.
In 1988, a large sinkhole caused by a sand boil appeared in a field belonging to the University Dairy Farm.
Three heifers fell into the large hole one night, and the University struggled to rescue them.
“I’m puzzled by what happened at the Dairy Farm,” Adrian said. “There must have been some sort of chamber underground that had eroded out. [In Louisiana] there doesn’t seem to be a history of sinkholes suddenly appearing all over the place, like in Florida.”
After the incident, the Dairy Farm no longer used the field for cattle grazing.
Adrian said he is not really worried about a sinkhole developing in Alex Box, as long as drainage efforts continue.
About two years ago, the Corps of Engineers awarded the University a $200,000 grant to study sand boils, learn more about what causes them and learn how to prevent them.
University professors, graduate students and visiting professors from China, India and Turkey are working hard to do as much research as possible before the grant ends in June 2003.