Indonesia's Mud Volcano Bursts Dyke

SHAKE AND BLOW

The sludge has inundated some 600 hectares (1,500 acres), including many homes and factories, leaving 15,000 people homeless. Photo courtesy AFP.

by Staff Writers
Jakarta (AFP) May 08, 2007
Sludge has burst through an embankment built around Indonesia's disastrous "mud volcano", flooding a main road, an official said Tuesday. Officials said a large crack had formed in the dyke, which was designed to hold back the massive mud flow in East Java. "We have managed to repair the crack but the road is still impassable," said a government spokesman.

"The road should be opened later tonight after we pump all the (muddy) water away," Muhammad Zulkarnain told AFP.

The embankment was built after the steaming crater, located near Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya, began spewing mud in May last year following exploratory gas drilling.

The sludge has inundated some 600 hectares (1,500 acres), including many homes and factories, leaving 15,000 people homeless.

Indonesian experts have tried to halt the flow by plugging the crater with chains of concrete balls -- a bold plan that some say will not work.

The embankment also repeatedly gave way when officials tried unsuccessfully to channel the flow to a nearby river.

Several local non-governmental groups have taken legal action against the local drilling firm, PT Lapindo Brantas, which apparently pierced a layer of strata under pressure at a depth of several thousand feet.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Email This Article

SHAKE AND BLOW

Air-Sea Surface Science

Virginia Key FL (SPX) May 02, 2007
Aided by new observations from the Coupled Boundary Layer Air-Sea Transfer (CBLAST) - Hurricane field program, scientists at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science have helped to develop and test a new, high-resolution computer model to better understand how air-sea interactions directly affect hurricane intensity, a factor not yet possible in the current operational forecast models.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT US Control Strategies May Make Flu Epidemics Worse In Search Of The Missing Dead Exercise Tests Responses To Hurricane, Nuke And Terrorists Poll Shows Support For FEMA	CLIMATE SCIENCE Greenhouse Gas Emissions In EU-15 Slip Is Climate Change Likely To Increase Disease In Corals Melting Of The Greenland Ice Cap May Have Consequences For Climatic Change Question Marks Over Commitment By China Climate Change Mitigation
EARTH OBSERVATION Transcontinental Wildfire Emissions Monitored From Space Volcanic Eruptions In Kamchatka NASA Satellite Captures Image Of Georgia Wildfires US Earth-Observing Satellites In Jeopardy	ENERGY TECH New Policy Will Transform Petroleum, Chemicals, Petrochemical Investment Regions From Waste to Watts: Restaurant Grease Converted To Renewable Power NPRA Outlines Major Concerns Regarding Alternative Fuels During House Energy Testimony Stepping Up Efforts To Push Through IPI Gas Project
EPIDEMICS Experts Warn On Gambia AIDS Cure HIV Treatment Goal Elusive Bird Flu Genome Study Shows New Strains As new Infections Spread Ebola Outbreaks Killing Thousands Of Gorillas And Chimpanzees	FLORA AND FAUNA An Ancient Bathtub Ring Of Mammoth Fossils Climate Change Impacts Stream Life Wildlife Caught In Web Of Internet Sales Ecology In An Era Of Globalization
FROTH AND BUBBLE With Dump Full, Thousands Of Tonnes Of Trash Fill Naples Streets Indonesia Prosecutors Challenge Newmont Verdict Tree Rings Show Elevated Tungsten Coincides With Nevada Leukemia Cluster Beijing Restrictions Offer Case Study In Emissions Of Key Atmospheric Gases	ABOUT US Gene Mutation Linked To Cognition Is Found Only In Humans Climate Changes Caused Neanderthal Extinction On The Iberian Peninsula Sleep And Exercise Critical To A Smarter And Longer Life Ape Gestures Offer Clues To The Evolution Of Human Communication

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement