Catastrophic mudslide could last 100 years, say scientists (Guardian)

[Eugene]

Catastrophic mudslide could last 100 years, say scientists

· Land in East Java likely to collapse as thousands flee
· Attempts to seal channels will 'probably not succeed'

John Aglionby in Jakarta
Tuesday September 26, 2006
The Guardian

Mud, gas and boiling water that have been gushing out of the ground in East Java
since May, submerging half a dozen villages and 20 factories, could continue
for a century with "catastrophic consequences", European experts said yesterday.
Efforts to seal the channels through which the mud is escaping are unlikely to
succeed, and it is impossible to tell how much fluid remains underground,
according to a University of Oslo geology team.

"It's unlikely to stop permanently for a long time," Adriano Mazzini told a press
conference in Jakarta. "It's hard to say when the overpressure will have been fully
released. It could be one, 10 or 100 years. But to seal it will be very, very
difficult." According to Mr Mazzini, unless the flow stops soon, the affected land,
which has already starting sinking, could subside significantly. "It will be
catastrophic," he said.

The mud started flowing on May 29, a couple of hundred metres from where the gas
company PT Lapindo Brantas was drilling an exploratory well nearly two miles deep.
It has been gushing up to 50,000 cubic metres a day - or two large bathsfull a
second - ever since.

-snip-

Mr Mazzini, whose team has studied mud volcanoes for more than a decade and spent
just under a week on site, said it was impossible to say conclusively whether the
drilling caused the disaster.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/indonesia/Story/0,,1881096,00.html

Earlier: Toxic Mud From Runaway Oil Well In Indonesia Covers Monaco-Sized Area

[peacebuzzard]

1. mudslides have killed thousands in the tropics of Brazil as well

as a child, I recall the torrential downpour in Rio de Janeiro that lasted over 40 days. (and those were the days of the low population numbers) All the hillsides in my urban hometown came cascading down. If the same scenario were to repeat itself today, the disaster would be cataclysmic. (and according to cyclic history, it is just a disaster in waiting. Have you seen "An Inconvenient Truth"?

This incident in Java was initiated by the drilling into the pressurized steam deposits, but the after-effect mud-slide into the dense population areas will more than likely be another source of natural disasters wiping out thousands in the near future of this planet.

P.S. I like your layout format....I have not noticed many posts with the link set up in the bold headlines ..... nice publishing work.

[ramapo]

2. It is a disaster in a far away land

Just another environmental disaster. But it has no impact at the pump or the market.
Cable TV still works and there are plenty of sports to watch. Ho-hum...