I have a goofy question thats nagged me because I cant explain it as well to other without a better understanding of what happen. During two day project we got tasked to build quik runway on sand using different style of temporary runway mattings. We flew into it with equipment at hand and blew thru it with ease. Perfect laser grade after day one we added three water trucks/roller and stood on it all day for compaction. Anways at night we placed matting and went off without a worry. Next day we show up to looked thing over and found the matting buckled everywhere. We started pulling up sections and noticed huge 6" fractures all along the base much like spiderwebs. The engineer came out with a smile said we overwater the runway during the day. Can someone explain this to me because I use this example at work when we get into hot days of summer and mention it possible to overwater sand.
Seen this in old Seabee footage from WW2 in the pacific. I will try to find it. More or less it is expansion and contraction. As the water evaporates it pulls the sand with it.