Drilling Might Be Getting a Bad Rap For Indonesia's Ongoing "Mud Volcano"

davide-nature writes "The freakish event has been blamed on a company that was drilling for natural gas nearby. But scientists have found a rock formation deep below the surface and shaped like a parabolic antenna. It could have focused seismic waves from an earthquake that occurred shortly before the eruption, and onto a clay layer. The clay then liquefied and somehow found its way to the surface."

Comments

For more information.

[PlusFiveTroll]

There is a very long Wikipedia article on this topic that contains a great deal of information on what occurred. While a great deal of work has been done to show that it is not fully the oil companies fault, drilling in to a hydrothermically unstable area with a faulty well design is a recipe for disaster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidoarjo_mud_flow

Not the only mud volcano

[flyingfsck]

This isn't the only mud vent in Indonesia and the others were not caused by drilling either.

Re:Not the only mud volcano

[flyingfsck]

A link to a very nice site about mud volcanoes: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mud-volcanoes-of-azerbaijan