Drilling Hits an Active Magma Chamber In Hawaii

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."

Comments

Hot Drill Bit

[JamJam]

I wonder if the magma melted the drill bit?

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[von_rick]

I think they must've used a pile driver and not a traditional drill.

Molten rock pushed back up the borehole

If it was rotary drill, it would have occupied the volume of the borehole.

But knowing very little about geological drilling, I admit that I could be entirely wrong in my reasoning

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Endo13]

I'm fairly certain you're wrong in your reasoning, but I also am not an expert on the subject so I could be wrong as well.

However, first thing is the material that has to be removed as they drill. They would probably need some kind of rotary drill for this. Also, I can tell you from experience drilling other types of things (such as wood and concrete) that a rotary drill will never entirely occupy the volume of the borehole - there's always some slop that happens as you drill, and some space beside the drill bit. The other thing you may not have considered is that the magma could have forced a rotary drill up the borehole.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Anonymous Coward]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_drilling

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[mikael]

The hole was 2.5km deep. Drill bits are rotational, so the friction with the rocks causes them to reach temperatures above 700 Fahrenheit. Thus they need to be kept cool using liquid coolant. From the article, the magma entered the drill hole, but cooled down after rising a good number of metres before solidifying.

National Driller

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[MarkRose]

I sure hope so! We don't need another Balrog in a hoolahoop roaming the world! :D

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[lymond01]

I'm fairly certain you're wrong in your reasoning, but I also am not an expert on the subject so I could be wrong as well.

You're an old hand here at Slashdot, aren't you. ;-)

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Endo13]

You're an old hand here at Slashdot, aren't you. ;-)

*points other direction*

Look, ponies!!

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[syncrotic]

You're picturing a drill bit like you'd find on the end of your drill at home, with grooves running all the way up the bit that transport the cuttings to the surface. In rock drilling there's a bit at the bottom of the hole(either percussive or rotary), connected to the drill rig by a pipe of smaller diameter than the bit. Cuttings are forced up through the space between the drill pipe and the wall of the borehole by either high pressure air or water.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[fizzup]

I have worked in economic geology as a summer student when I was at university, and I can vouch for the fact that hollow rotary drills are in common use. The drill core (the part of the rock that goes in the hollow centre) is the whole purpose of drilling the hole in the earth.

The drill is a gasoline or diesel engine, and the drill bit is a piecewise continuous long hollow tube. The drill bit is quite short, and the business end is a ring of industrial diamonds. The whole tube spins, and water is used to carry away the cuttings. To remove the core, the whole nine yards gets pulled up, and the drill core comes with it. The drill core is put in boxes, with depth markings on it.

The last (optional) step is for the drill operator to piss on the drill core. When the geologist opens the box of drill core, the first thing he does is lick the rock, because you can see the colour variations in wet rock a lot easier than in dry rock.

It seems to me that if you drilled into some magma with one of these diamond drills, you would run the risk of the whole earth collapsing like a balloon thththpththpthpthpthtpp. :)

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[ElizabethGreene]

Does anyone else feel that "Perfectly Safe" needed quotation marks or an asterisk or something?

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Gilmoure]

Hmm... Pony!

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[smilindog2000]

It turns out that this is not the first time geothermal energy plants have drilled into hot magma. They had a similar experience decades ago in Iceland. Unfortunately, it was a story told to me by a professor at Berkeley in 1985, so I'm not able to google any info on it.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[James McP]

TFA says This is not the first time drillers have encountered magma; the depth of the hit and the setting are, however, thought to be unique.

I'll summarize. a) this is dacite as compared to basalt (aka this is closer to "continental" magma than "Hawaiian" magma). b) It's close to the surface (2.5km) and c) it's freaking hot.

"We were at about 2.5km which is pretty routine drilling depth," explained Mr Teplow.

"But that is half the depth of experimental projects in Europe and Australia where they are drilling very deep into hot granite - some 5-5.5km down - and getting 260C rock; and here we're getting 1,050C rock."

I don't feel like doing the math right now but the power generating options from a 1000C heat source is very, very, very good.

If the geologists figure out how to find shallow magma anywhere near a cross-connected power grid, you can product a ton of energy.

For a localized environment like Hawaii, they could make huge strides in cutting external fuel needs. I'm generally anti-hydrogen because of the losses between generation and transportation but it would be very feasible for Hawaii to use the excess power from a geothermal power plant to produce hydrogen that could be transported the relatively short distances between islands by boat to provide fuel to other islands. I'm not an EE, but it seems like converting their current fuel-oil generators to hydrogen would be a fairly inexpensive process.

They already have an electric car initiative which would further cut down the bulk of their fuel oil imports.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[jfeldredge]

The last (optional) step is for the drill operator to piss on the drill core. When the geologist opens the box of drill core, the first thing he does is lick the rock, because you can see the colour variations in wet rock a lot easier than in dry rock.

And then the geologist says, "Someone's been eating asparagus!"

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[darrenbjohnson]

2.5 Km isn't all that deep for a drill. I've spent more time then I would like to admit on a LF230 Rig and depending on the rod size they can go a lot deeper. I imagine the drilling went something like this: So you are drilling down, maintaining torque and rodfeed, all of a sudden you hit a void (this case magma pocket) and your torque drops off to zero your rodfeed hits zero resistance. So you stop the rods slowly, you don't want a twist off in a void. You turn up your mud, you notice that there is some serious pressure in your rods, you pull the rods up 20 or so feet. By this time your core barrel is filled with magma and melting, but it's in a nice wet mud casing cooling it. You then notice the pressure wont drop cause your drill shoe is solid rock. You turn off the mud, look over at your helper, grin and say it's gonna be a fun night. You then proceed to remove all 2.5km of rods from the whole, a big pain in the ass. The whole trip out is wet as the mud has nowhere to go but out of where you disconnect them every 40 feet or so, the drilling helper and hopefully the drill op is soaked in mud. They finally get to the last 10 ft rod, look down the rod at a giant tube of rock, the helper runs out of the rig, the operator starts throwing stuff. Nothing amazing, a 2 or 3 in diameter tube of cooled magma sits in your rod. You just ruined $50K+ worth of stuff depending on the rods, the bit, the core barrel, and etc. You then proceed to wait for the foreman to come and laugh at you.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Xaoswolf]

watch the Dirty Jobs episode where Mike helped out with a Geothermal company...

Lots of stuff can come shooting up out of the hole, such as the dirt and mud that they are displacing, and any magma that they happen to hit along the way.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Repossessed]

I'm not an EE, but it seems like converting their current fuel-oil generators to hydrogen would be a fairly inexpensive process.

The two have nothing in common. Hydrogen fuel cells are a chemical process, no moving parts (except for hydrogen delivery). You could conceivably make a hydrogen powered combustion engine, but the entire point of hydrogen is that its more efficient, 70% conversion to electricity instead of 20-35% for combustion.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Anonymous Coward]

"Nothing amazing, a 2 or 3 in diameter tube of cooled magma sits in your rod."

I don't think amazing fits, but that would sure suck ass!

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[ScrewMaster]

I'm fairly certain you're wrong in your reasoning, but I also am not an expert on the subject so I could be wrong as well.

You're an old hand here at Slashdot, aren't you. ;-)

Not really. Real oldtimers here a. don't admit they aren't an expert and b. even if they are, won't ever admit they could be wrong.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[ScrewMaster]

I wonder if the magma melted the drill bit?

Remember the movie A Crack in the World? Well, there you go. We're playing with fire here folks.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[osu-neko]

Nah, real oldtimers just point to their ID#. ;)

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[module0000]

Conversion percentage [above 1%] is irrelevant when you have an unlimited supply. With 1000C+, and an ocean of H20 in close proximity....

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Hal_Porter]

If you'd have registered a bit earlier you have got ID 2600.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Hordeking]

Conversion percentage [above 1%] is irrelevant when you have an unlimited supply. With 1000C+, and an ocean of H20 in close proximity....

Nice try, but ocean water isn't unlimited. There's just a lot of it. More of it than we care to use, but not truly unlimited (and somewhat scarce on a universal level).

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[James McP]

I did not say "fuel cell." I said "convert to hydrogen." Oil fueled power plants either use steam turbines or diesel motors to spin the generators.

Fuelcells would replace both the generator and the turbine/engine. I'm saying leave the generator but convert the drive system to hydrogen.

If they run steam turbines that means swapping the burners on the boilers from oil to hydrogen. That's very little additional cost beyond the hydrogen storage since burners have to be replaced regularly anyway.

As for the diesel internal combustion engines, most of of the ones used in large power plants are factory capable of running on a mix of diesel and natural gas. Adding hydrogen support is not exactly trivial but isn't a huge expense if done during periodic engine teardown. The additional labor and material costs involved in equipping with the hydrogen-capable fittings would be negligible with only new compressors as the capital expense. At that point those generators would be primarily operating on hydrogen with a small percentage of pilot oil to manage combustion.

Ta-da. Fuel oil power plant converted to hydrogen with roughly 95% of the generator set left intact.

The geothermal-created hydrogen fuel would provide the safe baseload needed to deal with weather that's not friendly to wind and solar (like tropical storms that last days).

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[Repossessed]

And as I pointed out, you lose half the energy burning it.

Re:Hot Drill Bit

[James McP]

Depending on the age of the existing hardware, I think the cost savings from "recycling" the existing generator set probably outweighs the improved efficiency from a high cost fuel cell. Especially when the hydrogen is produced by a high-temp geothermal fluke.

They can switch to fuel cells as their gen sets reach end of life.

They found it

[Lord Apathy]

Well they found it. Seems to me this would be the best source of geothermal they could hope for. If they could just keep it from plugging up the bore hole.

Re:They found it

[GreenCow]

well if they had some space age, heat resistant pipes to shove down there into the magma, then run some liquid through the pipes to transmit the heat to a steamer, we'd have delicious vegetables in no time. i mean geothermal power. large scale geothermal.

it'd be pricey to make the first one, but it could be a big player in renewable energy. and unlike solar panels and wind mills which are like socialized energy because everyone controls the production, this could be a major central project for a greedy corporation.

then before you know it they drill to deep and there's a balrog running the streets.

Re:They found it

[MikeUW]

I believe those pipes would need to be made from an alloy known as 'unobtainium'.

Re:They found it

[Nos.]

Just drill down far enough so that the temperature of the surrounding rock is at a prime point for geothermal energy. No need to get right to the magma.

Re:They found it

[geminidomino]

I believe those pipes would need to be made from an alloy known as 'unobtainium'.

Isn't that an alloy of jumbonium and raritanium?

Re:They found it

[schwit1]

balonium might also work.

Re:They found it

[frieko]

Magma's not hot enough to melt steel or titanium. I've always wondered why laying pipe near/inside volcanoes couldn't solve all our energy needs. I'm sure it's not easy, but it seems easier than, say, putting a man on the moon.

Re:They found it

[evilad]

You might not get as much heat conducted into that pipe as you'd hope. Magma has a finite thermal conductivity. More so after it's cooled to the point of solidification.

Re:They found it

[Stuart Gibson]

Again, absolutely zero knowledge of, well, anything involved here, but I assume it would be a bad idea to lay pipes anywhere with high levels of tectonic activity?

Re:They found it

[19thNervousBreakdown]

No shit, I'm wondering how exactly it was "inadvertent" to drill into liquid hot mag-ma when you're drilling toward the hottest thing you can find on a volcanic island.

Re:They found it

[barzok]

Every time I try to lay pipe near/inside volcanoes, she tells me "not tonight, I have a headache."

Re:They found it

[mhalagan]

People lay pipe while near/inside volcanoes?

Re:They found it

[hairyfeet]

Or in a pinch the could use Governmentium which is so dense I doubt even the heat of Magma would be able to move it. And of course as a nice bonus if they blow all their money they can then use the Governmentium to bail themselves out. It's a win/win!

Re:They found it

[lgw]

Geothermal doesn't scale. The total heat loss through the crust of the Earth over an area the size of America is only about equal to our current electriciy use. Given that solar enery per square yard is about 10,000 times geothermal energy per square yard, it doesn't make much sense to focus on geothermal (except in those rare spots where geothermal is just handy).

Re:They found it

[evanbd]

You mean like copper? Regeneratively cooled rocket engines use copper chambers quite commonly, in an environment far harsher. As long as the cold side has enough coolant flow, the whole chamber (or in this case pipe) stays cool. There's a boundary layer of cooler gas or rock between the copper and the hot stuff that is where most of the temperature difference lies.

For efficiency in a generator, though, you want the highest fluid temperature you can get. Copper would limit the temperature, so you'd probably go for some sort of nickel based superalloy, which would permit operation at temperatures around 1000C.

Re:They found it

[frieko]

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

Re:They found it

[Fluffeh]

Not quite the best source of geothermal. You see these sort of bubbles of magma aren't really truly connected to the lower greater heat sources. It was most likely formed due to one of the eruptions from the 50's or 60's (From TFA) and therefore isn't going to keep the same level of heat. The article even says that they want to study it as it cools.

For a proper geothermal energy supply you want to drill down to the real stuff, not a random bubble up close that you found by luck that might be there for for another 20-50 years before it's a big bubble of rock.

Most geothermal energy sources rely on much much cooler things than molten rock. We simply don't have anywhere near the technology to harness this sort of heat into energy.

Re:They found it

[Lord Apathy]

Sort of like pissing off the roof and being surprised when it hits the ground don't you think?

Re:They found it

[D Ninja]

then before you know it they drill to deep and there's a balrog running the streets.

I preferred Blanka. Or Sagat. Balrog was just an old, washed-up boxer who was easy to beat if you knew to keep your attacks below his belt.

Re:They found it

[need4mospd]

And when you're done, she blows her load on you! Not quite as fun on the receiving end now is it?

Re:They found it

[afidel]

We simply don't have anywhere near the technology to harness this sort of heat into energy.

Like hell we don't, molten salt solar plants use salts that boil at 1400C and magma only reaches about 1300C max, the solidified area that would form around the pipe would lower the delta T to well below what such a system could handle.

Re:They found it

[Thelasko]

well if they had some space age, heat resistant pipes to shove down there into the magma, then run some liquid through the pipes to transmit the heat to a steamer

I believe those pipes would need to be made from an alloy known as 'unobtainium'.

Hold a lighter up to the bottom of a plastic water bottle. No, it won't melt. The water keeps it cool. As long as those pipes are always filled with water they won't melt.

Just about every method we use for creating steam uses this concept, from locomotive boilers, to hot water heaters, to the kettle on your stove. Just make sure they don't run dry, or bad things will happen.

Re:They found it

[lgw]

Does changing the heat flow of the Earth on a scale that will peturb plate techtonics sound like a safe idea to anyone? Even very small-scale geothermal power generation often has unforseen environmental consequences. I'm as far from a nay-saying tree-hugger as one can get, when it comes to new forms of power, but "oops, volcano" sounds like as bit of a pointless risk to take.

Re:They found it

[MikeUW]

Let's clear this up - you and a few others seem to have missed the contextual reference to the movie The Core...at least four /.ers got it right though. :)

Re:They found it

[Nefarious Wheel]

Shouldn't be too hard to keep it from plugging up the bore hole. You should have a fairly accurate idea of how far down it is. Drill again next to that bore but stop a few meters back to the point where the rock isn't plastic any more. Provided you don't change the shape of the magma chamber near where your bore hole would be (due to pressure deformation and consequent flow changes) you should get lots and lots of very economic heat.

Re:They found it

[ppanon]

The fools! They'll destroy us all!

Re:They found it

[MillionthMonkey]

Unfortunately for a couple days at a time you can't really put your junk into a volcano because that pyroplastic flow is too heavy.

Re:They found it

[MillionthMonkey]

>Does changing the heat flow of the Earth on a scale that will peturb plate techtonics sound like a safe idea to anyone?

It sounds awesome. I could walk to Vladivostok from Wasilla.

Re:They found it

[osu-neko]

Does changing the heat flow of the Earth on a scale that will peturb plate techtonics sound like a safe idea to anyone?

Actually, if we're taking power OUT of the system (which is the whole point, after all), it sounds like a spectacularly good idea. You know how many people are killed by earthquakes? You know where all that destructive energy is coming from? I'd certainly rather see that energy powering my datacenter than shaking buildings to pieces.

Re:They found it

[Hal_Porter]

I loved that movie. The test of leadership was being willing to squish the likable French guy for the good of The Party.

Oops, I mean for the good of the team.

Re:They found it

[meringuoid]

Balrog was just an old, washed-up boxer who was easy to beat if you knew to keep your attacks below his belt.

Balrog was a ponce with a big claw. The boxer was M. Bison. Because his character design was a blatant rip-off of, well, M. Tyson.

Re:They found it

[The Fun Guy]

'unobtainium'

What a disappointment. If only there were some kind of material that could withstand the 1200C of near-surface magma, or some means of rapidly extracting the heat so we could use it for generating electricity.

Unfortunately, there's no economic incentive to develop these technologies.

Re:They found it

[amRadioHed]

You're both right since the character names were different in the Japanese version of the game.

Re:They found it

[amRadioHed]

It's probably the sulfur compounds in the air. Next time bring a breathing apparatus for her.

Re:They found it

[Thelasko]

you and a few others seem to have missed the contextual reference to the movie The Core

People actually saw that movie...for shame!

Re:They found it

[lgw]

Right, we understand magma flow so very well that we can screw with it and make it *safer*. Earthquakes, volcanos, and worse problems are driven by the rate of flow of energy out of the system, in any case. Please tell me you're not an engineer.

Re:I'd rather be...

[Timothy's Mom]

You insensitive clod! What if Timothy reads this?

Perfectly safe?

[truckaxle]

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.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[JackassJedi]

"[...] [D]rillers 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." Futurama anyone? Or "LOST"?

Re:Perfectly safe?

[von_rick]

I think their assumption was based upon the observation that it had solidified. If they've erred in gauging the extent of solidification or the pressure of the magma underneath, they would become statistical data for the theory of natural selection.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[MollyB]

Good point. Let us not forget that they plan to dig 'many' holes into the chamber. I can envision the whole area collapsing into the chamber for lack of support. A giant game of "tear on the dotted line", so to speak.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[Fastolfe]

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.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[Anonymous Coward]

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

I'm sure they're leaving out their initial observations which probably went something like: "OH FUCK!! RUN! ok.. i think it stopped.. let's change our underwear then we'll send the new guy over to check it out"

Re:Perfectly safe?

[Thelasko]

This whole thing makes me wonder if they are in fact dealing with lava and not magma (yes, there is a difference). Lava is known to form lava tubes, which could be mistaken for magma. Hey, I'm no geologist, I'm just saying... how are they so sure?

Re:Perfectly safe?

[SatanicPuppy]

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.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[Chris Burke]

I'm sure they're leaving out their initial observations which probably went something like: "OH FUCK!! RUN! ok.. i think it stopped.. let's change our underwear then we'll send the new guy over to check it out"

"Oh yes, of course it's perfectly safe, Ensign Burke. Nothing to worry about. Now go on over there and examine the bore hole. Oh but first put on this official red shirt signifying your position on our team."

Re:Perfectly safe?

[Jarjarthejedi]

A weak spot sealed up with solid rock, of the same composition which makes up all the other walls around it.

If the magma was under enough pressure to burst through solid rock of the type created when it cools then it would have already burst out, tunnel or no tunnel.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[jfeldredge]

If the magma was under enough pressure to burst through solid rock of the type created when it cools then it would have already burst out, tunnel or no tunnel.

However, if the pressure should increase in the future, the borehole is the likeliest route for the lava to come out, as this is probably now the thinnest point in the magma-chamber wall.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[penguinchris]

As described in the article, they know because of the mineral composition. Lava that spews out of Hawaii forms basalt (or similar) and magma that cools underground forms granite (or similar) due to the way mineral formation works. It's pretty complicated stuff actually; IAAGGS (I am a geology grad student) and I could barely explain it to you without checking some references. Of course, IANAIP (I am not an igneous petrologist) and this is not my specialty :) And as the AC who replied to you notes, at the very basic level, the difference is indeed simply that one is deep below the surface and the other is at or near the surface (and lava tubes do form at or near the surface.)

Also, they did say they waited two years before going public with it, which gave them plenty of time to figure out what exactly they're looking at.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[recharged95]

Well, with hitting pure magma, at least Hawaii didn't 'crack' into two. Whew!

.

Plate tectonics aside, looks like the Earth isn't an egg shell in a fragile sense.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[wfstanle]

First off, you should RTFA (really, it's quite interesting). The magma they are talking about is very viscous and appears not to be under a lot of pressure. The lava that comes out of the Hawaiian volcanos is rather fluid and is under considerable pressure. My guess is that this is an old magma chamber that has been cooling for quite a while. Also the article says that the chemical composition differs from the basalt that makes up the lava spewed out of the volcanoes.

Re:Perfectly safe?

[ErkDemon]

Well, the top of the weak spot is sealed up, but that's not to say that some of the rest of the lava column isn't still molten, and receiving heat from the chamber, and gradually widening the bottom of the hole as the surrounding rock melts ...

IF that's happening, then the temperature of the plug may increase until it melts again, the column of magama rises a bit more before solidifying, the hole below widens some more ...

Re:Perfectly safe?

[ErkDemon]

1. : Fill old empty sock with blasting powder
2. : Drop sock down hole
3. : Run like all the demons of hell are after you.
4. : Get home, have stiff drink while listening out for loud, low-frequency noises and watching the sky
5. : Venture back a few days later to see if the borehole has turned into a boiling pit of lava yet
6. : Repeat until suitable tourist attraction has formed.
7. : Make Money !!!!

Re:Perfectly safe?

[tehcyder]

Hey, I'm no geologist, I'm just saying... how are they so sure?

Because they're geologists?

Re:Perfectly safe?

[pz]

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

Absolutely. I go to Santorini, Greece every year or so. Santorini is one of the best-studied volcanoes in the world. A volcanologist friend often accompanies me and enjoys reeling of stats about magma chamber releases. Force of Nature level stuff. It's not the dissolved gases that matter quite so much as the dissolved water. Magma is typically a few weight percent (superheated) water. During an eruption, when the pressure is released the water turns to steam and the whole shebang expands in volume by 3 orders of magnitude. Until the upper part of the magma chamber is emptied, the ejection column flows at supersonic speeds. You do not screw around with Mother Nature. Intentionally drill into a magma chamber? No thank you.
   

Odd misreading...

[tomknight]

Dammit, I read "..active manga chamber...". Confused, yes.

Re:Odd misreading...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the tentacle demons would be a bit harder to keep in the pit than magma.

Re:Odd misreading...

[geminidomino]

Pfft... throw in a schoolgirl in a sailor suit every month and everyone's happy.

Re:Odd misreading...

[Chris Burke]

Duh, that's why she's wearing a sailor suit, not a school uniform. That way she can beat up the monster, but not kill it of course because that's wrong, which means it'll be back again next issue.

Re:Odd misreading...

[Bobb Sledd]

Which is funny - I also misread what you said, thinking "what's wrong with 'active magma chamber'?" So I re-read it... and then I re-read it again slowly... "Oh. Manga."

It's a gusher!!

[xleeko]

All that I can picture is the classic 19th century drill tower with glowing magma spraying from the top, and lava-coated workmen running around cheering "It's a gusher!!"

Actually, in my mind, the workmen look a lot like Homer Simpson ...

Re:It's a gusher!!

[Chris Burke]

Actually, in my mind, the workmen look a lot like Homer Simpson ...

In my mind, they look a lot more like Freddy Krueger.

Re:It's a gusher!!

[oldspewey]

In my mind, they look like Wesley Crusher ... and they aren't cheering "It's a Gusher!!" they're crying "Get it off! It burns it burns!"

Re:It's a gusher!!

[gardyloo]

In my mind, there's one workwoman, she's played by Natalie Portman, and the lava is actually hot grits.

Re:It's a gusher!!

[Spyderman_26]

Except one looks like Rainier Wolfcastle, and he's yelling "The goggles....they do nothing!!"

Re:It's a gusher!!

[R3d M3rcury]

In my mind, they're attractive young women in bikinis.

I must be in the wrong place.

Re:It's a gusher!!

[againjj]

Actually, in my mind, the workman look like people from Pompeii.

Re:It's a gusher!!

[a whoabot]

And the geologists are studying her, 'cause, well you know, she's petrified.

Re:It's a gusher!!

[techno-vampire]

Let me guess: the drilling tower looks rather...organic, doesn't it?

Re:It's a gusher!!

[RockWolf]

In my mind, there's one workwoman, she's played by Natalie Portman, and the lava is actually hot grits.

They have hot grits mines where you live? Explains the taste...

Re:It's a gusher!!

[evilviper]

It's been a long time since the last Hot Grits post. I bet the /. kiddies with the 7-digit UIDs don't get it at all.

The dream realised

[El Yanqui]

"It has been described as a geologist's dream"

Dare to dream, geologists. Dare to dream.

Re:The dream realised

[Anonymous Coward]

A man goes into a restaurant, sits down and starts reading the menu. The menu says:

Broiled Accountant $5.95 per plate
Fried Engineer $7.95 per plate
Toasted Teacher $7.95 per plate
Grilled Geologist $25.95 per plate

The man calls a waiter over and asks "Hey, why does the Grilled Geologist cost so much more?"

The waiter says, " Are you kidding? Do you know how hard it is to clean one of them?!?!"

What a lode of fuchsite.

Re:The dream realised

[Repton]

Yeah, I dream of that all the time. Drilling deep ... a moment on the threshold ... then suddenly, a mighty eruption.

...

...excuse me for a moment.

Need some better equipment.

[CannonballHead]

I don't know, but "accidentally" drilling into a magma chamber seems like some calculations went wrong somewhere.

Re:Need some better equipment.

[corsec67]

Considering he was drilling for geothermal heat sources, I would say he got his calculations just right.

Some pipes with circulating coolant dropped into a magma chamber would be a great source of heat.

Re:Need some better equipment.

[rickb928]

Seriously, how hard is it to drill in Hawaii and hit molten rock? About as hard as it is to drill in Maine and hit water?

Sounds to me it's the joy of hitting virgin magma, which for a geologist must be better than hitting an underground reservoir of extra virgin olive oil... Or hitting the same acquifer that Poland Springs water comes from in Maine... which is pretty damned cool, or hot, or something.

Re:Need some better equipment.

[Abreu]

In the Uberwald regions of the Discworld, you can drill and hit underground deposits of animal fat...

Re:Need some better equipment.

[Nefarious Wheel]

In the Uberwald regions of the Discworld, you can drill and hit underground deposits of animal fat.

Elephant fat, to be specific. Determined to be The Fifth Elephant, from the BCB count in the cores.

Below that, it's turtles all the way down, sonny.

Re:Need some better equipment.

[penguinchris]

I know you're not being entirely serious, but, while obviously it's not hard to drill in Hawaii and hit molten rock, the difference is that this is magma as opposed to lava (which is what spews out at the surface.)

Time to make my secret base

[Spatial]

Convection schmonvection. I've finally found the perfect place to plot my evil deeds!

I bet that got interesting...

[TheHawke]

When his gauges pegged at the upper limits and his torquemeter went to zero when he breached the wall of the chamber.

Re:I bet that got interesting...

[Panspechi]

That sentence somehow got me pretty hot

Re:I bet that got interesting...

[Lord Apathy]

Interesting might be an understatement. More like "Oh Shit!" You know, those two words you never want to hear your bomb technician, drill operator, or gynecologist exclaim.

Re:I bet that got interesting...

[kiyoshigawa]

or gynecologist

Slashdot readers typically don't need to worry about that one...

Re:I bet that got interesting...

[hotdiggitydawg]

To paraphrase the back of one of my favorite T-shirts:

"I'm a volcanologist. If you see me running, try to keep up."

Re:I bet that got interesting...

[Anomalyst]

> That sentence somehow got me pretty hot
I guess now you are going out and whip a star?
That oughta get me a "-1 obscure" moderation.

Re:I bet that got interesting...

[lazy_nihilist]

Nice to see Lord Apathy have a sense of humour :-)

but

[ChienAndalu]

how can we be sure that this isn't some stupid new viral advertising campaign for a Emmerich movie?

Re:but

[ChienAndalu]

Well, English not my native language ;-)

But I wanted to say that the advertising campaign is new, not the movie. So I think the broken article is the only mistake.

Thanks for the correction anyways. The world needs some Grammar Nazis :-)

Re:but

[Fantastic Lad]

Thanks for the correction anyways. The world needs some Grammar Nazis :-)

I was just being an over-clever dick. No insult intended.

Cheers!

-FL

Oblig. Daniel Plainview post

[east coast]

If you have a glass of magma, and I have a glass of magma and I have a straw. And let's say my straw and it reaches across the room and into your magma. I drink your magma. I DRINK IT UP!

Re:Oblig. Daniel Plainview post

[spun]

Let's all go out for boiling chocolate magmashakes!

Re:Oblig. Daniel Plainview post

[redcaboodle]

So that's what they served me when I ordered a strawberry flavoured hot chocolate. I did wonder why it took ages to cool down to a drinkable temperature.

Old news.... This happened in 2005

[Maddog Batty]

I would love to know why it was kept quiet for so long.

"The breakthrough was made in 2005. Only now are researchers confident enough about their work to discuss the details publicly."

So what were they not confident about? Hot temperatures - check. No drill bit left - check. Rock fused to end of drill - check.

Re:Old news.... This happened in 2005

[denis-The-menace]

RE: So what were they not confident about?

Getting suppressed by W. and Co.

-It's science... check
-It threatens oil usage... check

Re:Old news.... This happened in 2005

[bendodge]

-It's trolling... check

Re:Old news.... This happened in 2005

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

-It's trolling... check

No, it is more like making light of a very serious problem.

Re:Old news.... This happened in 2005

[Hal_Porter]

The ucusa criticises people who cherry pick data to support their prejudices but aren't the ucusa just doing the same thing for the other side?

Re:Old news.... This happened in 2005

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

The ucusa criticises people who cherry pick data to support their prejudices but aren't the ucusa just doing the same thing for the other side?

Huh? Your argument is that since not every single piece of research involving government funding has been tampered with by representatives of the administration, there is really no problem?

Re:Old news.... This happened in 2005

[Hal_Porter]

No my argument is that both sides are putting a political spin on the research to reflect their prejudices.

Re:Old news.... This happened in 2005

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

No my argument is that both sides are putting a political spin on the research to reflect their prejudices.

That presupposes that all of those individual scientists working on individual projects are a single "side" working in cahoots.

Bored into the Dark One's prison

[imbaczek]

was the project leader called Mierin by any chance?

Re:Bored into the Dark One's prison

[BobReturns]

I knew we couldn't trust that Brandon Sanderson character... Shoulda known he was working with that darned Forsaken.

Quote of the year

[Psychotria]

This is unprecedented; this is the first time a magma has been found in its natural habitat

Is this professor also known as David Attenborough?

Re:Quote of the year

[Midnight Thunder]

This is unprecedented; this is the first time a magma has been found in its natural habitat

Is this professor also known as David Attenborough?

Possibly, but that quote makes me wonder whether my local Zoo is home to a nest of magma?

Dr. Evil Likes...

[Cornwallis]

Liguid hot magma

Perfectly Safe?

[Yossarian45793]

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

I don't think that phrase means what you think it means...

Confdence

[snspdaarf]

Probably waiting to see that they didn't rip open the Earth's crust, causing a global disaster like an old Dr. Who episode (Jon Pertwee).

That sounds better when read in a William Conrad voice, like in Rocky and Bulwinkle.

Re:Confdence

[Zordak]

That is the first thing that came to mind when I saw this headline. I thought it should have had a drwho tag, but then I thought that's a pretty esoteric reference, even for Slashdot. Also, fortunately that all happened in a parallel universe earth, so the Brigadier is still alive and kickin' here.

Re:Confdence

[Nefarious Wheel]

That sounds better when read in a William Conrad voice, like in Rocky and Bulwinkle.

From a person who grew up with that show as a core element of my sense of absurd, I would like to correct that. I'm pretty sure it was Hans Conried.

(upon seeing a drag baseball team captained by Boris Badinov) Rocky: "Golly, what kind of game can you play with girls?

Bullwinkle, to camera: "This really is a kids show, isn't it! Why, Parcheesi!

Re:Confdence

[Nefarious Wheel]

Nope, you were right -- it was William Conrad.

My mother didn't like it that much, though, thought it was too derivative. But that's because she wrote scripts for Crusader Rabbit, and didn't get the flow on work.

Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it

[Gizzmonic]

Warning!

This is a troll recipe! I mixed it up and put it in my oven, and what came out? Tubgirl!

Jon Pertwee era Doctor Who...

[Anonymous Coward]

episode comes to mind, called "Inferno"

Drilling into the mantle released some odd mutation that ended up in the destruction of the planet.. (in an alternate reality)

Ooops

[electrictroy]

Dear Boss:

We had a tragic accident today. We were drilling for heat - well the good news is we found it. Lots of it. The bad news is that we destroyed a $50,000 drill bit and pipe.

Please don't fire me.

No pun intended.

Your faithful employee, and gracious servant, who hopes you will come to my home for Christmas dinner. Or any other dinner you desire...
John Doe

how magmanimous of you

[jollyreaper]

Drill, baby, dr--AAAAUGH! It burns!

Easy Investment

[critical_point]

In the 1890s the king of Hawaii sent a telegram to Thomas Edison asking about the feasibility of transporting geothermal power on the big island, which is relatively less populated, to the capital in Oahu by means of an undersea cable.

Looking for geothermal wells is guesswork, just like looking for oil. Still, there are ~20 prospective geothermal wells that have not been explored on the big island, and it is estimated that the combined output of the resources in these wells could supply up to 4 times the current power consumption of the entire state, for up to 500 years.

Not granite...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Magma specialist Bruce Marsh says it will allow scientists to observe directly how granites are made."

No, because the magma in Hawaii is mafic in composition, yielding basaltic or gabbroic) rocks, not felsic like granites. Maybe they mean being able to observe intrusive processes like the ones that produce granite?

Re:Not granite...

[BobReturns]

The AC above me is entirely correct, and should be modded up.

Rather than "granites" the quote should probably say "large grained intrusions" or better still "Gabbros".

Re:Not granite...

[lmckayjo]

Read the article. This magma chamber is NOT apparently basaltic, and has much in common with magmas that produce granite. 67% silica content - which is very uncommon to see in anything on the surface here in Hawaii.

That said, the important thing isn't probably going to be understanding how volcanoes in other parts of the world work, but just in how this volcano works. That won't get as much funding as studying "how continents originally formed" or other highly derived hypotheses that this site might generate, so the geologists are focusing on what sounds good to people OTHER than Hawaiians (who are generally against messin' with da aina anyway).

-L

Re:Not granite...

[DogFacedJo]

Yeah, see, that's what is apparently interesting about this magma - it *is* felsic, in Hawaii, the middle of the bloody Pacific.

Re:Not granite...

[jolyonr]

I know this is Slashdot, but perhaps you should read the full article. The magma encountered was unusually high in silica (ie felsic) - a dacite-type lava. They are excited about this because it is showing how granitic continental-style magma can differentiate from your normal basaltic lava.

So yes, it would potentially be granitic rather than gabbroic in nature. Isn't geology fun!

The same thing happens in Iceland too, there are dacite-type and rhyolitic-type lava flows, although a far lower percentage than the normal basaltic flows. Silica-rich lava is a much nastier stuff when it gets to the surface, explosive, but more viscous and less runny than your basaltic lava. That's why you didn't get a geyser of molten-hot lava coming up the tubes [slight simplification, but hey, this is slashdot].

Jolyon

EVery last one of those mountains are still active

[WindBourne]

Some ppl claim that they are not, but they are all still active. Some are just deeper.

The difference.

[pavon]

Normal Person: Holy crap, we just created a vent for magma to escape!
Scientist: Ooh, we haven't studied this before!
I love it. Oh, and obligatory XKCD comic.

Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it

[larry bagina]

what license is this recipe released under? I can't eat GPL food because of the closed-source toilet at work :/

Better call Austin Powers...

[Zymergy]

Seems like Dr. Evil is going to drill into the "red hot mag-ma" sooner than he thought...

Oh no, it's Punctured!

[abial]

Great, now Earth is going to deflate ... :(

Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry, you're safe as long as you don't distribute your derivative work.

Drilling into a volcano - and were shocked?

[kimvette]

But the drillers were shocked - not only to hit magma but to also hit such a big heat source at the relatively shallow depth of 2.5km.

I'm sorry, call me naive. However, would any of you here be shocked if you drill into a frigging volcano and discover - gasp - magma?

I mean, isn't all of Hawaii just a bunch of volcanos? How can anyone be "shocked" to find magma close to the surface of a volcano? Especially geologists? Like, isn't geology their field? Doesn't it stand to reason that a volcano, you know, a mountain made of lava flows, lava which when underground is called magma, just might -- might -- have magma relatively close to the surface?

Re:Drilling into a volcano - and were shocked?

[natet]

Actually, I would expect to encounter pockets of super heated gasses riding on top of the magma. I think the point here is that they can punch more holes in and study the magma, which it wouldn't really be safe to do in the crater.

Re:Drilling into a volcano - and were shocked?

[sbeckstead]

Someone didn't RTFA. Oh wait I can't be shocked at that this is /. and morons don't read the articles.

Drilling for geothermal energy may harm your home

[fzimper]

In the German city of Staufen, they drilled some 140m deep holes to get geothermal energy for heating the town hall and adjacent buildings.

Unfortunately, this drilling caused many cracks in houses around the city centre. Some of these cracks are said to be big enough that you can put your fingers in.

According to this article on the English Spiegel (a German news magazine) website, dated March 2008, the whole city is sinking. In a recent German article from November, they write that the city has risen several centimeters due to water mixing with gypsum deep down and therefore causing the gypsum to expand.

Volcano!

[alta]

Bah, this was a sci-fi made for TV... If I could actually stand to sit there long enough to watch one, I would be able to tell you how it ends. But I do know it contains a lot of screaming, colapsing cities, really bad CGI and Bruce Cambell.

Re:Volcano!

[sbeckstead]

Nope this one is older it has Tim Thomerson.

YNP

[mosb1000]

They should try this in Yellowstone National Park. What could possibly go wrong?

Re:EVery last one of those mountains are still act

[Chris Burke]

Every place on earth is geologically active if you dig deep enough...

Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it

[Fluffeh]

Warning!

This is a troll recipe! I mixed it up and put it in my oven, and what came out? Tubgirl!

And here I was thinking that joke was going to end with ROCKCAKES!

Re:EVery last one of those mountains are still act

[lmckayjo]

Define active.

If, by active, you include old volcanoes which are slowly subsiding into the ocean crust, and will never erupt again, then yes, ALL of the Hawaiian "mountains" are still active volcanoes. By reasonable interpretations, however, 2-5 Hawaiian volcanoes are active, several are dormant, and several (many, counting atolls all the way to Midway, and many more counting seamounts all the way to Alaska) are extinct.

What exactly does it mean to be a "deeper" active volcano anyway? If the only molten rock is deep enough that it will NEVER reach the surface, and will simply cool where it lays, then I wouldn't call that an active volcano.

pssssss

[rmallico]

the sound of the 'magma' escaping while Hawaii slowly deflates

Sigh... RTFA.

[Anonymous Coward]

I take it you didn't read the part where they went into that:

"Granites are about 75% SiO2 and basalts are about 50%. Average continental material is probably in between, at about 60%," explained Professor Marsh.

"Here's one that turns out to be 67% silica. It's up there; it's a very respectable silicic magma. And it's in the middle of the ocean, and it could be this is how continents could have been started to be built on the planet."

(I know, I know. The article was a *whole* *page* long, and it had to be shipped in from the BCC!)

Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it

[Beardo the Bearded]

I know I'm feeding a troll, but seriously, this is the least offensive troll post I've ever seen on /..

This recipe looks legit; very comparable to the recipe I make.

I strongly suggest adding 1 tsp of vanilla to the batter.

If you want to make them vegan, use vegan margarine and remove the eggs. Add in either an equivalent amount of soft tofu or 2tbsp flax seed mixed with 4tbsp of water. With either sub, add one extra tbsp of baking powder.

Also, rotate the cookies halfway through the baking cycle and do not overcook. The cookies should appear undercooked when removed from the oven.

It goes to 11!

[owlstead]

The volume slide of the audio player on the BBC site goes to 11! Powerpuff girls rule!

Re:It goes to 11!

[ptbarnett]

The volume slide of the audio player on the BBC site goes to 11! Powerpuff girls rule!

Uh, no. "Up to 11" originated in This is Spinal Tap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_to_eleven

Re:What about the dwarves?

[DogFacedJo]

Bah, just download that mod that clears that warning - then dig to yer brave little dwarf heart's content.
    Any experienced miner can outrun magma. Selective pressure ensures it.

They were scared!

[mangu]

So what were they not confident about?

In 1943 a farmer in Mexico was plowing his field, when smoke started coming from the soil. Today the nearby village is like this.

Even if the lava in the hole solidified almost instantly, they had to make sure there would be no unforeseen evolution.

Re:EVery last one of those mountains are still act

[Fnordulicious]

Correct. According to a volcanologist friend at the University of Hawa'i, Maui's Haleakala is dormant, and the Big Island volcanoes are either active (Mauna Loa, Kilauea) or dormant (Mauna Kea, Hualalai) except for Kohala which is extinct. None of the other volcanoes in the chain are active or dormant except for Loihi which is an undersea volcano to the south of the Big Island.

Re:Life imitates Dwarf Fortress

[Pantero Blanco]

Pfft! What were they thinking!? They should have stopped as soon as they got "Digging designation canceled: Warm stone located"...

They're digging from the Z-level above, so they're fine.

Now they can build a forge, kiln, or smelter on top of it without having to worry about using bituminous coal, lignite, or wood for fuel.

You don't have to worry until someone finds an adamantine vein and follows it for too long...

Note:

[bobbuck]

TFA didn't say they were GOOD geologists... (I really wonder if they were really Virtucon employees.)

Re:Drilling for geothermal energy may harm your ho

[treeves]

So which is it: rising or sinking?

Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it

[NonSequor]

I think it needs to either replace the baking soda with baking powder or add some cream of tartar. You won't get any rise if there's no acid to react with the baking soda.

Maybe that's the troll.

Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it

[Beardo the Bearded]

Well, he's just copypasted the recipe from here:

http://www.popularcookierecipes.com/Chocolatechip.html

Nice Imagery

[Hanging By A Thread]

Sounds like how I ended up last Saturday night.......

They're lying there on the surface, they've de-gassed

magma doesn't have a habitat

[tfiedler]

Someone should tell these geologists that magma isn't alive and therefore, it doesn't have a habitat. Next thing you know, someone will want to put volcanoes on the endangered species list because we're destroying their "habitat."

Re:magma doesn't have a habitat

[The Angry Mick]

Next thing you know, someone will want to put volcanoes on the endangered species list because we're destroying their "habitat."

Look on the bright side. Of all the endangered species out there, magma would be the only one that actually stood a chance when fighting back.

Imagine some redneck magma poacher, stalking his prey, suddenly being ambushed by a hostile flow:

"GAAAAHHH! My biscuits are burning! My biscuits are burning!!!"

Re:a pointless risk

[Anonymous Coward]

as compared to "oops nuclear explosion" ?

If you'd said "oops, nuclear meltdown", you'd have seemed half credible. Instead you just made yourself look like an ignorant Luddite.

Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it

[soundguy]

This is apparently the recipe for TROLLHOUSE COOKIES

Geothermal Energy Source

[Nick Driver]

I don't feel like doing the math right now but the power generating options from a 1000C heat source is very, very, very good.

Only problem is that if we build a bunch of geothermal power plants, someone will come along bitching that by sucking all the heat out of the Earth's mantle, we'll start causing "global core cooling" or something like that.

Based on the movie....

[Michael Snoswell]

There was a great sci-fi movie back in the 60s, "Crack in the World" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059065/ that had a similar story line to this, only it ended up with a rift forming in the earth's crust that spread across Africa and they used nukes to end it all, causing a huge chunk of crust to be hurled into space. Life imitates art again.

Re:Drilling for geothermal energy may harm your ho

[fzimper]

It's rising. According to the latest news.

Too bad

[Floydius]

about that drill bit. Had it been made of that righteous mineral dolomite, there's a slim chance it might have survived.

Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it

[StuckInSyrup]

Die Eier von Satan? You forgot the Turkish hashish.

Re:What about the dwarves?

[theTrueMikeBrown]

I second that. Water on the other hand has killed many of my brave dwarves. I once had my mayor trapped for two years in a tunnel by pressurized water.

For those who don't know, the parent talks about Dwarf Fortress 2 which is awesome.