Drilling Might Be Getting a Bad Rap For Indonesia's Ongoing "Mud Volcano" 31
davide-nature writes "The freakish event has been blamed on a company that was drilling for natural gas nearby. But scientists have found a rock formation deep below the surface and shaped like a parabolic antenna. It could have focused seismic waves from an earthquake that occurred shortly before the eruption, and onto a clay layer. The clay then liquefied and somehow found its way to the surface."
A multiple oddity? (Score:2)
This can explain the event; a multiple oddity. You know, when singular oddities gang up on you.
Or maybe the drilling had something to do with it...with that rock formation and all that.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Re:A multiple oddity? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
For more information. (Score:5, Informative)
There is a very long Wikipedia article on this topic that contains a great deal of information on what occurred. While a great deal of work has been done to show that it is not fully the oil companies fault, drilling in to a hydrothermically unstable area with a faulty well design is a recipe for disaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidoarjo_mud_flow [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:1)
So you're argument is that it's still the oil company's fault since they were in the area? It doesn't matter that what they were doing could have caused a problem since it didn't cause the problem.
Re:For more information. (Score:5, Insightful)
Finding evidence of one contributory factor is not the same as disproving all other factors.
Re: (Score:1)
Factors which are little more than guesses.
However, you and your cronies can't sue a parabolic rock formation, nor can you stand there and promise the electorate you will beat the head of it if'n only they'd elect you.
Re: (Score:2)
Me and my cronies? Whatever you're reading into my post, it's not there.
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you so much Erin Brokavich.
uh oh (Score:2)
Not the only mud volcano (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not the only mud volcano (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Does not seem very plausible (Score:1)
There are earthquakes *all* the time in Indonesia, and mud volcanoes are known across many parts of Indonesia. Why would it pick this earthquake (275km away) at this moment to fail, within a short distance (200 metres) from a borehole that was in progress and which was penetrating high fluid pressure zones at depth? It's an awful coincidence. Why here?
B) best case, these guys drilled into a structure that was "ready to blow". That's a bad move potentially leading to disaster regardless.
C) I'm a little s
One flaw with that argument... (Score:1)
Where, exactly, did that liquified clay layer decide to spurt out of the ground? Hint: Not any of the nearly infinite number of other places nearby that still had a few thousand feet of un-drilled rock covering them.
As full disclosure, I support drilling for natural gas. But we need much, much better quality control (which yes, will raise the price slightly), both during the initial drilling and in upkeep of the well-heads to pr
Re: (Score:1)
The article explains that the mud greased a fault that slipped and connected the mud to pre-existing hydrothermal tubes that allowed it to spurt to the surface.
Re: (Score:2)
Not their fault? BS. They didn't make the mud, but they sure as hell made the tube it used to get above-ground.
To be clear, the mud did not spew out of the bore hole from the drilling. So whether or not the drilling caused the mud to be created, or whether it in any way contributed to the problem, the drilling itself did not create the hole used by the mud to escape. While you might argue that the drilling caused the event that created the escape path, it was a secondary event to the drilling itself.
Re: (Score:2)
Indonesia is the land of mud volcanoes
the mud did NOT come up the borehole they made
may as well blame any nearby lightening strikes on the drilling
Tagline (Score:2)
How wrong. (Score:3)
Drilling Might Be Getting a Bad Rap For Indonesia's Ongoing "Mud Volcano"
That is simply no way to refer to tubgirl.
Here it is on Google Maps (Score:2)
It doesn't look as bad as it was in 2007 (read the article, looked at the photo...).
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sidoarjo,+East+Java,+Indonesia&hl=en&ll=-7.528426,112.710285&spn=0.14091,0.264187&sll=32.576226,-86.680736&sspn=7.662306,16.907959&oq=Sidoarjo,+in&hnear=Sidoarjo,+East+Java,+Republic+of+Indonesia&t=h&z=13 [google.com]
The mud area is about 1 mile square (or 1.8KM guesstimating from the legend).