Post date: Oct 25, 2018 10:11:43 AM
Paper on the relation between crab burrows and cometary pits was published in Sci. Rep.
This study reveals a peculiar relation between sandy crabs and comets by a simple wet granular experiment. In the experiment, a horizontal tunnel in a wet granular layer was compressed. Then, the shrink or collapse was observed depending on the initial size of the tunnel. This phenomenon could relate to the stability of crab burrows and size of pits found on comets.
Void structure stability in wet granular matter and its application to crab burrows and cometary pits
A. Shinoda, S. Fujiwara, H. Niiya, and H. Katsuragi, Sci. Rep. 8, 15784 (2018).
Pease see also the news release.