Alan
V.
Morgan
Strange
and
catastrophic
events
take
place
on
our
world
on
a
regular
and
ongoing
basis.
Most
of
these
are
events,
especially
the
larger
ones,
are
“natural
phenomena”
caused
by
the
shudders
and
burps
of
our
planet,
but
sometimes
these
catastrophes
are
triggered
by
human
activity.
Occasionally
these
causes
are
inadvertent
—
perhaps
involving
some
unfortunate
and
perhaps
un-thought
of
combination
of
circumstances
that
led
to
disaster.
The
Frank
Slide
in
Alberta
might
be
one
such
example.
However,
on
other
occasions
the
disaster
was
created
by
humans
“who
should
have
known
better”.
One
of
these,
appearing
in
news
items
over
the
past
few
years,
is
the
Indonesian
mud
volcano,
nick-named
“Lusi”
near
Surabaya,
in
East
Java.
The
“volcano”
first
erupted
on
May
29th
2006
after
the
Indonesian
oil
and
gas
exploration
group,
Lapindo
Brantas,
drilled
an
exploratory
well
that
was
inadequately
protected
from
blow
out.
The
results
have
been
spectacular
and
pose
an
ongoing
and
expensive
threat
to
the
immediate
neighborhood
of
the
steaming
vent.
Figure
1:
Water
and
mud
pool
in
decomposing
rhyolite,
Kerlingarfjöll,
Central
Iceland.
Mud
volcanoes
are
not
unusual
features.
They
occur
in
various
parts
of
the
world
and
have
been
previously
described
in
Wat
On
Earth.
The
term
is
a
catch-all,
describing
phenomena
that
range
from
small-scale
mud
pots
that
bubble
gases
and
fine
mud
in
volcanic
regions
(for
example,
Iceland
or
Yellowstone;
Fig.
1),
to
undersea
methane
vents
from
subsea
clathrate
deposits
to
onshore
releases
of
gases
from
hydrocarbon
deposits,
such
as
those
on
the
Aspheron
Peninsula
in
the
Baku
region
of
Azerbaijan,
the
area
of
the
world’s
first
modern
oil
wells
(Fig.
2).
Figure
2:
A
small
methane
bubble
breaks
the
surface
of
a
mud
volcano
in
Baku.
Lusi
(derived
from
the
Indonesian
name
for
mud
(Lumpur)
and
Sidoarjo
(the
small
town
in
the
province
of
Porong)
is
an
example
of
the
latter
(Fig.
3).
What
caused
the
disaster
and
could
it
have
been
prevented?
Figure
3:
Lusi
in
2006
showing
the
main
vent,
areas
of
inundation
and
temporary
dykes.(Wikipedia)
It
appears
that
Lapindo
Brantas
had
targeted
a
gas
horizon
contained
within
the
Kujong
Formation
carbonates.
This
unit
is
over-pressurised
and
the
lower
drill
string
that
entered
the
formation
at
2,834m
depth
was
not
cased;
a
normal
procedure
in
areas
of
oil
and
gas
exploration.
At
5
a.m.
on
May
29th
a
small
blowout
of
water,
gas
and
mud
occurred
some
200
m
southwest
of
the
well.
The
cause
is
assumed
to
be
hydro
fracturing
of
the
overlying
units
that
allowed
the
pressurized
water,
gas
and
mud
to
flow
to
the
surface.
The
physical
results
over
the
past
19
months
have
been
spectacular;
the
economic
effect
for
the
region
devastating,
and,
for
the
local
inhabitants,
absolutely
catastrophic.
In
September
2006
the
flowing
mud
broke
through
an
emergency
dyke
system
flooding
paddy
fields
inundating
almost
2.5
square
kilometres
and
displacing
11,000
villagers
from
eight
villages
near
the
vent.
Two
months
later
at
least
11
people
were
killed
from
a
pipe-line
explosion,
likely
caused
by
subsidence
in
the
area.
By
February
2007
the
mud
flows
had
covered
3.6
km2
and
were
up
to
10m
thick
(Fig.
4).
Four
small
villages
had
been
buried
together
with
25
factories,
a
cemetery,
15
mosques
and
18
schools,
a
major
toll
road
as
well
as
smaller
roads
and
a
railway
line.
Figure
4:
One
of
the
small
adjacent
villages
flooded
by
mud
and
water
from
Lusi.
(Wikipedia).
By
the
end
of
January
2007
the
mud
volcano
was
producing
between
7,000
and
150,000
m3
of
mud
per
day
(some
5,000m3
/day
in
June;
25,000m3
in
July;
50,000m3
in
August
and
120,000m3
/day
in
September).
Since
that
time
geologists
have
shown
that
the
eruption
was
a
manmade
event
and
not
connected
to
the
major
6.3
magnitude
Yogyakarta
earthquake
that
occurred
some
300
km
away
two
days
before
the
blowout
as
suggested
by
company
officials.
Lapindo
Brantas
was
subsequently
asked
to
pay
close
to
US$277
million
as
compensation
and
over
US$144
million
in
additional
costs
to
seal
the
well.
Commencing
on
February
27th
2007
large
concrete
balls
weighing
about
70kg
each
and
chained
in
groups
of
4
were
dropped
from
a
crane
into
the
main
vent
in
the
hope
that
this
would
stop
the
flow
of
mud.
This
effort
was
stopped
on
March
31st.
By
the
end
of
March
the
mud
volcano
had
grown
to
a
height
of
14m
(46
feet),
while
the
surrounding
land
had
sunk
about
30cm
from
the
start
of
the
eruption.
The
inundation
zone
had
expanded
to
6
km2.
Efforts
to
channel
the
mud
into
a
nearby
river
and
from
there
to
the
sea
were
relatively
unsuccessful
because
of
the
viscosity
of
the
mud.
In
May
2007
engineers
decided
that
a
15
story
dam
some
10m
(33
feet)
thick
and
120m
in
diameter
would
be
built
around
the
volcano.
The
containment
walls
will
consist
of
two
rings
of
thick
steel
pipes
encased
in
concrete
up
to
48m
(158
feet)
high.
The
facility
will
have
a
water
extraction
unit
that
will
take
the
liquid
component
via
a
chute
to
a
nearby
river
for
disposal
while
the
more
solid
fraction
would
remain
to
act
as
a
sealing
“plug”
over
the
main
vent
area.
The
dam
is
expected
to
take
8
months
to
complete
and
a
geology
museum
and
a
park
will
be
added.
The
latest
information
shows
the
area
of
inundation
to
be
about
7km2
(Fig.
5)
and
projected
to
go
to
10km2.
The
clean-up
costs
are
expected
to
go
to
more
than
US$1
billion.
There
is
a
chance
of
major
subsidence
in
the
area
and
undoubtedly
there
will
be
more
to
this
story
in
years
to
come.
Figure
5:
Ikonos
satellite
view
showing Lusi
and
surrounding
area.
The
main
Bali toll
road
can
be
seen
broken
by
flooding in
the
centre
of
the
image.
Factory
and housing
complexes
(top)
are
in
white where
a
retaining
dyke
collapsed
and
mud has
started
to
dry
out.
Retaining
dykes are
shown
and
the
vent
area
is
being circled
for
a
major
dam
wall.
