Water and sand traps

OP
OP
A

arch

Guest
We have tried digging to the depth of 18 feet and found a manmade obstruction. We try to remove it but at every attempt to reach the door of the tunnel, water fills the diggings with sands.

We thought that the japanese designed the tunnel with water and sand traps to discourage digging whatever they hid in the tunnel.

Is there a "secret" method of reaching the tunnel without allowing water and sands to fill the pit?
 

R

rvbvetter

Guest
Dam the water source. Or at least that's what i say when playing golf.

I think we could use a little more info here.
 

angel_09

Sr. Member
Jul 8, 2005
365
4
Japanese treasures are burried with water trap, sand trap, vialled chemicals, chemicals in drum, century bomb string activated and other deadly items. If a hunter does not have any valid treasure map from who burried it, it is almost near to impossible to get the treasure. these map are written in kanji, an old japanese language and dechipering it is not easy. I have once a book that have most of the symbols written in japanese characters, but its validity is uncertain to me. As I understand treasures with this kind of traps are big volume, say not less than 5 tons and more. In my experience, water trap comes within 12 to 18 feet, and once it is opened the flow of water is almost unstoppable. The in rush of water and its volume is more than enough to barred the hole.
 

OP
OP
A

arch

Guest
We found already one of the "pipe" where the water is flowing. The size of the pipe is around 10" to 12" in diameter. We just cant continue digging and open the door of the tunnel since every time we tried to drain the dig, a contineous flow of water with sands flow from the pipe. We believe that just a few feet below the pipe is the door of the tunnel we are trying to open. Pyrites and woods like charcoal are some of the signs we got from the digging.
 

Dinkydick

Sr. Member
Oct 2, 2004
290
2
Pipes are no problem.

Solution:

Measure pipe size.
Purchase valve to fit pipe.
Install valve on end of pipe.
Close valve.
No more water.

Dinkydick
 

OP
OP
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arch

Guest
Omnicognic, thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to look for it here in the Philippines and study it is really possible and if we can afford to buy it.
Dingkydick, it's not actually a pipe where you can measure its diameter and install a valve on it.
 

Dinkydick

Sr. Member
Oct 2, 2004
290
2
Ok - Why do you have to dewater the hole to locate the door?

If the so called pipe is not round then a custom built patch can be fabricated and installed across the
open end of the water entrance. By using screw jacks inside the pipe as anchor points a coffer dam
can be installed to cover the hole using "J" bolts. A properly installed coffer dam will restrict the water
flow considerably providing the water head pressure is not too great.

The dirt can be removed using a standard airlift. Access to the treasure would have to be accomplished underwater. Not a hard problem to overcome as you said the water depth was about
18 feet. A diver can stay down at that shallow depth for a long time working.

Attempting to work the treasure site in the dry will cost large amounts of money and time.

If you could supply more details regarding this site maybe alternate solutions could be suggested.

Dinkydick
 

omnicognic

Bronze Member
Jan 22, 2005
1,321
13
Tampa, Florida
Dinkydick has a point, if the water is coming in from a pipe, the solution could be as simple as inserting a folded innertube into the pipe and inflating it! ;)
 

da Hobo

Jr. Member
May 6, 2005
84
0
Northern Illinois
Similarly to the famous Oak Island site perhaps the original poster does not literally mean "a hard, metal or clay PIPE but instead a "water path, tunnel, passage" from a water source (river, lake, ocean) to the pit they are digging.

If the ground is sandy and the person or personS who buried this possible treasure provided for invasion of water through the subsurface material then you can not just simply "put a cork in the pipe or a valve or clamp on it."

Read up on Oak Island, they have a similar situation and experts have tried for over 100 years without success.

Hobo
 

omnicognic

Bronze Member
Jan 22, 2005
1,321
13
Tampa, Florida
da Hobo said:
Similarly to the famous Oak Island site perhaps the original poster does not literally mean "a hard, metal or clay PIPE but instead a "water path, tunnel, passage" from a water source (river, lake, ocean) to the pit they are digging.

If the ground is sandy and the? person or personS who buried this possible treasure provided for invasion of water through the subsurface material then you can not just simply "put a cork in the pipe or a valve or clamp on it."

Read up on Oak Island, they have a similar situation and experts have tried for over 100 years without success.

Hobo
this is what I thought at first and that's why I mentioned the freezing technique. ;)
 

R

rvbvetter

Guest
Just a thought, and probably not feasable. But what about doing it backwards.
Instead of trying to stop the flow at it's destination. What about altering it at it's most likely or possible origin. Don't try to stop it, just divert it at it's source. Easy for me to say huh?

Maybe get in touch with some dam engineers and find out how they put in a dam when the water is already there. How and where they divert the water.
Good luck on it HH


I hope the ocean is not the water source. In that case, get some sponges.
A lot of sponges.
 

OP
OP
A

arch

Guest
at six feet deep we were able to find very fine sand combined with soil/mud. after further digging, around four feet deep, water started to flow from underneath, and while digging we came across sand again, but this time the sand was not very fine. it was like the sand you see in rivers.
we saw what looked like pyrites. we also saw plenty of small pieces (the size ranges from one to two centimeters) of what looked like old wood (charcoal like wood).
at sixteen feet, we kept digging but we never got any deeper, we stayed at sixteen feet. water and sand continued to flow from underneath and from all sides, thus preventing us from getting any deeper.
by the way, we were able to reach sixteen feet after we constructed a box like structure, 5x4x6, made of wood. we confined the digging to the area within the box.
because we were not getting further than sixteen feet, we decided to destroy one side of the box, there we saw a tunne/pipel from which the water with sand was flowing. this is around seventeen to eighteen feet. then we decided to stop because we could not contro/containl the water and sand.
 

R

rvbvetter

Guest
Is this site elevated or at sea level? Hilly terrain or flat?
 

R

rvbvetter

Guest
If your on an island surronded by sea, then I know where your water source is, and guess what.
But if your inland, then it sounds like you've hit an artesian or a strata. The artesion can be altered or destroyed by dynamite. If you use enough tnt the bed will cravck and fracture, and the water will run down through the fractures rather than build up.
If its hilly, then you might be able to drill a horizontal 8 or 10" shaft 30 or 40 feet below where your digging, to give the water an outlet. Have you tried drilling a vertical exploritory shaft, to see if any material comes up on your drill bit or auger?
 

gldhntr

Bronze Member
Dec 6, 2004
1,382
79
you can rent pumps that pump many thousands of gallons an hour,,they will pump the sand too....they are available with 10--12, inch in/outlets and pump so hard the discharge will easily move a 5500 pound truck out of the way...............also you can rent something about like your wooden box, that is metal, that is used while working on dam floodgates and valves, or city utilities on the roadside,,.....one of these and a small trash pump should help.............
 

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