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Drilling Hits an Active Magma Chamber In Hawaii

Posted by timothy on from the time-for-a-lava-luau dept.

Smivs writes "The BBC are reporting that drillers looking for geothermal energy in Hawaii have inadvertently put a well right into a magma chamber. Molten rock pushed back up the borehole several meters before solidifying, making it perfectly safe to study. Magma specialist Bruce Marsh says it will allow scientists to observe directly how granites are made. 'This is unprecedented; this is the first time a magma has been found in its natural habitat,' the Johns Hopkins University professor told BBC News. 'Before, all we had to deal with were lava flows; but they are the end of a magma's life. They're lying there on the surface, they've de-gassed. It's not the natural habitat.' It is hoped the site can now become a laboratory, with a series of cores drilled around the chamber to better characterise the crystallisation changes occurring in the rock as it loses temperature."

4 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Perfectly safe? by truckaxle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Molten rock pushed back up the borehole several meters before solidifying, making it perfectly safe to study

    When dealing with a pressurized body of molten rock with entrained gasses, I don't think one could ever say it is perfectly safe.

    1. Re:Perfectly safe? by Fastolfe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If it were truly under a dangerous amount of pressure, wouldn't this borehole have become another volcano? The fact that it traveled only a short distance before solidifying suggests the pressure isn't a concern.

    2. Re:Perfectly safe? by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not sure that would be an issue. Magma is pretty dense, so it's not like a huge chunk of rock would just displace into it in the same way as if it were water. Depending on the density of the rock above, it might even float on the magma.

      It's also pretty close to the surface (obviously) so there isn't (apparently) enough weight on it to produce the pressure needed to remove some of that magma and create a void for the land to fall into.

      It also appears to be self-sealing, which is also good for safety.

      For a hellish molten holocaust waiting to happen, it seems pretty benign.

      --
      ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  2. Re:They found it by frieko · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's only because there's a blanket of insulating rock holding the heat in. Hence the need for volcano-pipes.