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Science

Drilling For Magma 34

Posted by timothy from the cue-number-two dept.
Makarand writes "In an effort to better understand volcanic eruption patterns researchers in Japan are planning undertake the world's first volcano drilling experiment to get samples of magma according to this Japan Times online article. They plan to drill 1700 meters deep to penetrate a volcanic vent. The drilling operation will use muddy water as a coolant which will also help prevent volcanic gas and other substances from spewing out. They will start in late January and are expected to extract a sample about 200 meters long and 15 cm in diameter by summer. Studying such samples is expected to reveal secrets not possible with studies conducted from above ground and mere observation of rocks around the volcanic vent."
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Drilling For Magma More

Drilling For Magma

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  • The Core (Score:3, Funny)

    by GuyMannDude ( 574364 ) on Monday January 06, 2003 @05:30PM (#5028622) Journal

    I just pray they'll be able to restart the core spinning. Man, those superstorms really look dangerous!

    GMD

  • Darwin Award (Score:3, Funny)

    by MegaHamsterX ( 635632 ) on Monday January 06, 2003 @05:33PM (#5028641)
    God, this sounds like a candidate for a Darwin award, isn't magma pressurized, isn't this why it shoots out of volcanos with force??
    • Yeah, not only that - but maybe I'm nuts here, but is there anything that can withstand the temperature of molten lava? Seriously - what are they going to keep this in?? I would think their drill would *melt* as it got near the magma, but then again, maybe they are using some kind of super metal to do this.
      • ...is there anything that can withstand the temperature of molten lava?

        Have you seen video of lava flowing? Wonder why it doesn't melt the rocks it's touching? Lava, and magma for that matter, can't supply enough heat to melt the surrounding earth.

        Also, magma is *not* pressurized until it is very close (relatively)to the surface. Magma, being so hot, is less dense than the surrounding rocks, which causes it to rise in general. As the molten rock nears the surface it gases are forced out of the surrounding earth, rather rapidly, forcing the lava out. Under the surface though, it isn't under pressure trying to burst out (though it is under pressure from the earth above, but that's towards the core).
        • Yes, I have seen videos of flowing lava - but I assumed it was melting everything near or around it, until it had flowed long enough to cool down. Once it cooled, it stopped melting things around it, settled, and hardened. But then again, I'm drawing my conclusions from the movies.
        • Your science is a little off... if the magma near the surface is under pressure, it's under pressure in ALL directions... pressure isn't like gravity, it doesn't act in only one direction. If you had magma that was hot enough to be fluid and you opened a path to lesser pressure, it would take that path just as any other pressurized fluid would. However I believe that the article states that the magma in question has cooled quite a bit so that may not be an issue.

      • Re:Darwin Award (Score:5, Informative)

        by MrIcee ( 550834 ) on Monday January 06, 2003 @09:57PM (#5030221) Homepage
        Since I live on an active volcano in Hawaii, I'll add my 2 cents to this (especially since we spend much timie playing in the lava fields, cooking chicken in lava, etc).

        When they dropped the geothermal wells here on the big island almost all of the attempts were met with destroyed drilling rigs - mainly due to excessive heat.

        It doesn't make sense that they're going to actually drill into the 2000 degree stuff, unless they have some really really really temperature proof drill bits.

        However, it is true that just because the lava is 2000+ degrees (F) that it will not *instantly* melt the cold rock it touches. We can (with special kevlar/spun glass gloves) actually pick up liquid flow - it picks up like taffy and will lift off the cold ground. However, lava in a tube, where it is constantly flowing, does eventually melt the surrounding rock - and can be a cause of lava tubes widening once they're created - but that requries constant contact to liquid magma over time.

        • It appears that some of you are confusing temperature with heat. A substance can have a very high temperature but not be able to melt shit unless it also contains enough heat.

          All substances have a property called specific heat capacity. This is the amount of heat input required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of the substance by one degree. Metals have a fairly low value of specific heat capacity -- water has an unusually high value.

          The temperature of the sun's corona, for example, is over one million degrees but you could probably stick your hand in it without getting burned. It is such a low density plasma that it simply doesn't contain much heat.

          Magma's temperature is around 700 - 1000 degrees C. As I wrote in a previous message, there are plenty of elements and inorganic compounds that have higher melting points.

          When the magma is exposed to the atmosphere (by the way, it is called lava when it reaches the surface), its temperature drops because it transfers a lot of its heat to the air and anything else nearby.

          The bottom line is, the plan to drill into a magma vent is not a big deal, not difficult to do, and not threatening to life on Earth.
      • Hold on thar, pardner. A great many elements and inorganic compounds have melting points higher than magma. Granitic rocks melt at about 750 degrees C, basaltic rocks at about 1000 degrees C. Pure iron, for example, melts at 1535 degrees C; magnesium at 1656 degrees; tungsten at 1660 degrees; and uranium at 3410, the highest melting point of any element.

  • Could this be used for evil world domination purposes??

  • muddy water coolant? (Score:3, Funny)

    by PD ( 9577 ) <slashdotlinux@pdrap.org> on Monday January 06, 2003 @06:02PM (#5028841) Homepage Journal
    I knew singin' the blues was cool, but damn, I never realized just how cool.

  • Damn, there goes another joke. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JUSTONEMORELATTE ( 584508 ) on Monday January 06, 2003 @06:03PM (#5028850) Homepage
    At a previous job, I wrote code to clean up data entry problems in oil well data. If someone put an extra digit into the Total Depth field, those were flagged as Magma wells. (it's only funny if there is no such thing, you see)
    On the other hand, it's nice to look at this story and realize my code would simply call this a 170m well and move on its merry way.

  • is it just me... (Score:3, Funny)

    by random735 ( 102808 ) on Monday January 06, 2003 @06:15PM (#5028937)
    or does this sound like the beginning of a bad scifi movie that ends with large, rampaging monsters destroying Tokyo?

  • To awaken Godzilla!

  • With certain very high temp materials, they could make robots that swim in the magma, hey, a new form of transportation. We'll have japanese rising from underground here and there.

    Interesting to think what would happen if they try nuke tests near the core. Hmmmmmm...
  • Why I have this showing up under the list of science headlines, but not under the main headlines? I even have Science turned on in the right sidebar, but half the science headlines don't show up.
    • Not everything in the sections gets to the front page.
      All turning Science on does is present the sidebar in the right-hand column, which will point you to recent science articles.
      You can also click on the Science [slashdot.org] link in the left-hand column (Under "Sections"), which will take you to a page formatted like the front page (with article summaries), but which contains only science articles.

  • If you puncture the earth's crust... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Omkar ( 618823 ) on Tuesday January 07, 2003 @10:56AM (#5032806) Homepage Journal
    all the gravity will fall out!
  • The quote is asking about eruption patterns differing depending on the volcano. It seems to me you need a sample size of more than, um, one to come to any conclusions. I wonder which other volcanos they plan on drilling into?

  • Drilling mud (Score:2, Informative)

    by Tideflats ( 71367 )
    The journalist evidently thought drilling mud (which he seems to have understood was "muddy water") is a novelty. It is not. It is a slurry of various components in various recipes, designed to cool and lubricate the bit and hold the hole open, to which end it is usually designed to have a high specific gravity. It is pumped down the hollow drill stem, and through the doughnut-shaped bit, to flow up the outside of the stem (lubricating it, as well) to the surface, and in to a mud tank, from which it is recycled. The drill cuttings it carries may be examined and saved as part of the drill-hole record.

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