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Mud Volcano Swallows Concrete Balls

Posted February 27, 2007 9:04 AM

From Discovery News:

Feb. 27, 2007 — A plan to use concrete balls to stem the disastrous ooze from an Indonesian "mud volcano" may be revised after they slid deeper than expected, a spokesman said Tuesday. The balls slid about half a mile into the crater, roughly twice the depth anticipated, and many more than planned may be required to staunch the mudflow, said the operation's spokesman, Rudi Novrianto. "Based on our monitoring of Monday's operations, we may later decide to add to the number of ball chains, but the decision will only be made once the initial target of 374 chains have been dropped into the mud hole," he said.

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Guru

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#1

Re: Mud Volcano Swallows Concrete Balls

02/27/2007 11:13 PM

What the heck is a "mug volcano?!" From the full article, they make mention of a gas explosion. So is this a man-made event or is this a natural disaster?

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#3
In reply to #1

Re: Mud Volcano Swallows Concrete Balls

02/28/2007 7:05 AM

Instead of molten rock (lava) it is mud heated by geothermal steam that is forced to the surface sometimes as a gentle flow but sometimes in a more explosive manner. Pretty much the same as a normal volcano just a different material.

I didn't see anything about an explosion but it would appear that it is a man-initiated disaster/event. The sentence below is from the article

Exploratory drilling in May last year by local gas company PT Lapindo Brantas pierced an underground chamber of hydrogen sulphide, forcing hot mud to the surface in East Java's Sidoarjo

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#5
In reply to #3

Re: Mud Volcano Swallows Concrete Balls

04/11/2007 12:22 AM

dincon,

Thanks for the clarification. Kind of like a really big, mad mud pot!

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#2

Re: Mud Volcano Swallows Concrete Balls

02/28/2007 3:07 AM

I assume that someone has worked out that it won't get blocked and then 'clear it's throat', as it where. I have a mental picture of those concrete balls acting as shot gun pellets!

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#4

Re: Mud Volcano Swallows Concrete Balls

02/28/2007 8:24 AM

Just wait a couple hundred years... it could be a nice new sandy beach destination!

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