Mud volcano floods Java
Disaster-plagued Indonesian island faces new threat.
For 3 months a sea of hot mud has been gushing from the ground in Sidoarjo, East Java, 35 kilometres south of Indonesia's second largest city, Surabaya. The steaming mud pool is growing at an estimated 50,000 cubic metres a day, accompanied by hydrogen sulphide gas, and now reportedly covers more than 25 square kilometres. The flow has not yet been stopped; thousands of people have lost their homes.
Read about it here.
Comments
As they and we all know, nothing could stop these disasters from happening (specifically mud volcano flood), no technologies on earth has worked, and experts says it is unprecedented, so where are we humans referring to next? For those believers, there is GOD, the spirit, the “mother-nature” and so forth depends on what they believe in. Plead and ask for the guidance from all their multi-religious sources (Hindu, Buddhist, Islam, Christian, Kejawen and all others), and it is time for them to be in one basis or faith. There has to be a solution.
And all at once, I strongly believe that all those "natural disasters" that are stirring in the whole island of Indonesia is caused by the element of “negligence” of the arrival of the truth “Saviour” of Indonesian people or known as “Ratu/Raja Adil or Satrio Peningit or Dewa Sang Tunggal or Raja Maha Buddha” by most Javanese referring to their preceding Javanese Kings prophecy.
I myself have faith in, if they (all the responsible parties including Indonesian government together with their entire “Para natural” individual or organisations could step forward and execute their “spiritual/divine ritual” asking GOD, the spirit, talk to the “mother-nature” to be evidence for them “who” is this truth “Ratu/Raja Adil”? Invite Him where ever on earth he is and He definitely will aid them as what being “accept as true” by most of their soothsayers and above of all as long as there is sincerity and honesty inside each of them.
It is the time for “Ratu/Raja Adil” to come! DO NOT discard the aptitude of this SUPER POWER!
Posted by: Suffian Nordin | August 30, 2006 05:52 AM
Mud volcanoes are usually sourced from hydrocarbon reservoirs. H2S is often associated with volcanic hydrothermal vents and also often poses a drilling hazard because it can form in hydrocarbon reservoirs. does anyone know how commonly H2S is released mud volcanoes?
Posted by: Sam Rice | August 30, 2006 02:13 PM
The spectacular mud volcano of East Java (Sidoarjo) must be associated with a great volume of water trapped somewhere deep below the surface. If this water occurs at depths greater than about 3 km, and in an area with high heat flow (near volcanoes and magma chambers), then some of this water is likely to be supercritical. Supercritical water is nasty, as it can dissolve the surrounding rock and sediments, and has a very low density. Such water will, therefore try to push upwards, and has now been suggested to be the real trigger for some of the world's thousands of mud volcanoes (Hovland et al., 2006). There are several observations suggesting that we are here witnessing a cross between a standard (hot) volcano and a common (cold) mud volcano. The enormous mass of slurry (mixture of water and clay) coming up and also the heat of the water suggests that the emitting fluids and solids have been formed between 3 and 10 km under ground.
Some of the related questions are: Where does the water come from? If this is seawater trapped in subducting sediments and the subduction slab beneath Java, then where is the salt (the inference is that the water is fresh and not saline that comes up)?
Has this episode anything to do with the great December Tsunami earthquake?
Reference: Hovland, M., Rueslåtten, H., Fichler, C., Johnsen, H.K., 2006. Deep-rooted piercement sturctures in deep sedimentary basins - Manifestations of supercritical water generation at depth. J. Geochemical Exploration, vol. 89, p. 157-160.
Posted by: Martin Hovland | September 4, 2006 01:36 PM
An update for those following this story:
According to Reuters (12th September), Indonesia's government are now attempting to succeed where Lapindo have failed in stopping the mud flow. A team headed by Energy Minister Purnomo Yusigiantoro will try to tackle the mudflow and presumably the related social issues as well. Lapindo will have to foot the bill.
Posted by: Richard Van Noorden | September 12, 2006 06:03 PM
The mudflow is now becoming a gethermal steam vent. With surface temperature of morethan 150-200 deg C. This is not just a mud volcano.
Stopping the flow is "a mission impossible". What important now is how to treat the surface impact. The slurry is enourmous with more than 50 000 cubic meter a day.
Posted by: Rovicky Dwi Putrohari | September 17, 2006 03:18 AM
For all what I know, mud volcanoes are almost associated with hydrocarbon gases (at least methane and ethane, as the heavier are lost through post-genetic processes). It seams surprising that, in this case, important amount of hydrocarbons are not involved (as in the Mt Azeri eruption for example).
Moreover, for what I know, H2S has never been measured in significant amount in mud volcano gases. If vents expelled gases, analyses should allow saying the part of deep fluids (hydrothermal systems) involved in this phenomenon.
Posted by: Jeremie Ferrand | September 27, 2006 01:10 PM
I was told that the Indonesian government is going to release the mud into the ocean.
Do any scientist has ever studied the biological effects of mud volcanoes?
How long can the hydrogen sulphide remain in the mud?
Do the mud in other mud volcanoes contain heavy metal?
I am worry about the possible effects of the mud release. The release will solve the problem in short-term but it might create ecological disaster for decades. The Indonesian scientist is very worried about the situation, however, due to limited resources, not much can be done. Helps from other scientist or institution are crucially needed. Please help the Indonesian people.
Posted by: CK Tan | September 28, 2006 08:45 AM
The Origin and Evolution of the Sidoarjo Mudflow East Java
Origin of the Mudflow:
The Smoking Gun: Banjar Panji Well Data Sheet details well status at 30 May 2006 “when it was killed after mud flow.” Source: http://hotmudflow.wordpress.com/bpj-1-well-data-sheet/.
This demonstrates the mudflow most probably had its origins in a well control incident when the drill bit penetrated an over pressured basin floor claystone sequence and well control was lost at a depth of 9,297 feet (as reported by PT Lapindo Brantas and Santos Limited). The absence of a 9 5/8 inch casing, with extended open hole over an interval of 5,717 feet, would have made well control very difficult. It is likely that increased mud weights, used in an effort to control the well, resulted in break down of the rock formation at the 13 3/8 inch casing shoe, differential sticking and loss of the drill pipe and bottom hole assembly. A cement plug set within the 13/3/8 inch casing left the 5,717 feet of open hole section beneath in internal blow-out status and fractures were propagated to the surface from the 13 3/8 inch casing shoe via the formation that was broken down (mud weight pressure exceeded leak off test pressure) around the casing shoe.
Contributing Factors
9 5/8 inch casing was not run in the well:
5,717 feet of 12 1/4 inch open hole exceeds normal industry practice and makes well control problematic, particularly in an over pressured environment.
“Good oil field practice” would be to set casing above over pressure to stabilise the normally pressured sequence and facilitate in any well control requirements at depth.
Normal practice would be to set casing above the objective in any event, to facilitate well control in the objective reservoir interval. The well objective: Kajung Formation limestone was prognosed at 8,500 ft.
The situation detailed on the well data sheet is consistent with an internal blow-out and would be avoided by pursuit of “good oil field practice”
The well was left in a completely unstable status following setting of cement plugs within 13 3/8 inch casing. The lower 5,717 feet of uncased hole were left uncased and over pressured, most probably in an uncontrolled internal blow-out status.
From these facts and analysis it is concluded that:
Drilling operations most probably created the original conduit to surface The Driller’s Log from the well site is required for absolute confirmation of the events in the well (critical data: Leak of Test at 13 3/8 inch casing shoe, mud weights in use 27-30 May 2006 & activity in well bore over this period).
Well design/implementation as detailed on the well data sheet, does not accord with “good oil field practice”, based on the known geology and details provided accompanying the well data sheet.
The well was left in an uncontrolled internal blow out status following the setting of a cement plug in the 13 3/8 inch casing, enabling over pressured hot mud to flow to the surface from the open hole beneath the casing show.
Mudflow Dynamics
Reported mud flow to date is ca. 12 million cubic metres (ca. 0.01 cubic kilometres), equivalent to ca 72 million barrels of fluid. This represents less than 0.001% of the mud volume at depth.
Area under mud now greater than 400 hectares with containment increasingly difficult.
Maximum flow rate is now reported to be ca. 200,000 cubic metres per day (ca. 1.2 million barrels fluid per day) although flow is variable and intermittent over a period of days (pressure build up and surging associated with source at depth)
Forecast that rates could exceed 250,000 cubic metres per day by Feb/Mar 2007
Subsidence (1-5 m) and some suggestion of radial fracture propagation occurring outward from the Banjar Panji location (c.f. 22 November East Java gas trunk line explosion)
There is now the potential for new conduits to propagate via subsidence related radial fracture development up to several kilometres from the source – ultimately an area of 5-100 sq km centred on Banjar Panji may be impacted.
Conclusions:
Flow rates reportedly continue to increase, implying widening of conduit(s) to surface.
Well intervention is unlikely to be effective in the face of the major flow rates and the large conduit volume.
Acceleration of subsidence and flow via multiple, radially displaced source vents is a significant possibility over the next six months: 5-100 sq Km around the Banjar Panji location may ultimately be affected.
The flow appears to have past the point of no return – well intervention is now likely to prove futile.
Posted by: L Taylor | January 15, 2007 10:45 AM
Has there been a compositional analysis of the mud? -Although large amounts of clay can be pretty poor when your plants are acid loving, could it help farmland?
What's the update on its extrusion?
[Editor's note: for our most recent update, see: Balls finally dropped into mud volcano ]
Posted by: Joel Allen | February 28, 2007 06:34 PM
Im a year 12 Indonesian Student in South Australia and Im currently doing an indepth study on the East Jawa Mudflow disaster. If there is anyone with information regarding the spiritual aspects of the disaster, ie. the dragon hypothesis, could u please contact me at chelfy_7227@hotmail.com...
Thanks alot, Chels
Posted by: Chelsea S | June 6, 2007 01:58 AM