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.

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	CIVIL NUCLEAR Southern Company Plans To Sell Interest In Proposed Nuclear Plant Bush Rings Manmohan To Discuss Nuclear Deal And WTO Talks Thorium Reactors Integral To Indian Energy Independence Russia Ready To Modernize Slovakia Nuclear Facilities
BLUE SKY Widespread Twilight Zone Detected Around Clouds Rand Says Further Study Warranted On Save The World Air Technology Noxious Lightning AIM Heads For Orbit	WOOD PILE Indigenous Groups Seek Millions From Credit Suisse Over Timber Deal Indonesia Fastest Forest Clearer In World WHRC Scientists Creating National Biomass And Carbon Datas How To Manage Forests In Hurricane Impact Zones
FARM NEWS New Knowledge Improves Rice Quality Plant Pathologists Fighting Global Threat To Wheat Supply Light Sticks May Lure Turtles To Fishing Lines Thai Scientists Fear Global Warming Could Empty World Rice Bowl	CAR TECH Intelligent Cars As Fuel-Efficient As Hybrids China Automobile Dream A Nightmare For Climate Change Driverless Car Goes On Show In London Made In USA Losing Cachet
AEROSPACE Australia Fears Jet Flight Guilt Could Hit Tourism Nondestructive Testing Keeps Bagram Aircraft Flying New FAA Oceanic Air Traffic System Designed By Lockheed Martin Fully Operational NASA Seeks New Research Proposals	NUCLEAR SPACE Could NASA Get To Pluto Faster? Space Expert Says Yes - By Thinking Nuclear NASA plans to send new robot to Jupiter Los Alamos Hopes To Lead New Era Of Nuclear Space Tranportion With Jovian Mission Boeing Selects Leader for Nuclear Space Systems Program

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