Chris Rowan is a geologist specialising in the dark arts of paleomagnetism, and getting people to pay him to travel to exotic destinations for fieldwork. Having drilled up New Zealand during his PhD, and South Africa in his first post-doc, he now works at the University of Edinburgh.
Anne Jefferson has a love of all things water-related and blends hydrology, geomorphology, geology, and climate change in her work. She has a Ph.D. from Oregon State University and is now an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
It's been a while since my last update on Lusi, the allegedly/probably drilling-triggered mud volcano near Sidoarjo, Indonesia. But the NASA Earth Observatory has just released this image, taken last autumn:
Lusi,October 2009. Source: NASA Earth Observatory
My first thought on seeing this was, "Woah, where'd that mountain come from?" In the last images I had seen, Lusi had from above was effectively a big muddy pool, contained within man-made earthworks, with a steaming vent in the middle. This had been pretty much the case for the previous couple of years.
Lusi, October 2008. Source: CRISP
Now, it's a big muddy pool with a big steaming hill in the middle. By looking through the satellite snapshots put out every couple of months by the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing at the University of Singapore (of which the October 2008 image above is one), you can see that over the last 12 months or so Lusi appears to have started building up instead of out, with the causeways and dams around the vent being gradually swallowed up by the grey ooze.
Lusi, May 2009. Source: CRISP
Lusi, September 2009. Source: CRISP
Lusi, December 2009. Source: CRISP
It seems, then, that Lusi has entered a new phase of its life. I wonder if this growth has anything to do with subsidence in the area?
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Do you have any recent data about the amount of subsidence, by any chance?
Posted by: Lars Fischer | February 5, 2010 1:27 PM
I wonder what it looks like from the ground. Haven't found any recent photos of it.
Posted by: Miguel Vera | February 5, 2010 2:55 PM
Is the subsidence caused by what the hole is spitting out?
@Lars: maybe google can help; subsidence in remote areas is usually measured by satellite interferometry (using the synthetic aperture radars). Those instruments have been used, for example, to show a surface deformation at the CO2 sequestration field in In Salah, Algeria. The same instruments also show deformations over aquifers as the ancient water is pumped to the surface for irrigation. Subsidence of over 1m is not at all unusual over aquifers.
Posted by: MadScientist | February 5, 2010 10:14 PM
if you Google Images,Lusi mud volcano, you will find lots of ground level photos one of which looks like kids swimming around in it!..
Posted by: Dave | February 7, 2010 12:25 AM
Thanks for the update Chris. A time series of ground level photos taken from the same location would be interesting- most of the google image links date back a couple of years.
Posted by: geodoc | February 7, 2010 6:17 PM
The next time that area gets shaken by a significant earthquake, how far do you think that pile of mud will spread out? Seems like another disaster set up to be triggered.
Posted by: Hank Roberts | February 9, 2010 11:20 AM
Why has human ingenuity not found anything to do with the mud, as it is only earth that could have plants/food growing in it or turned in mud bricks or maybe converted useing technology/process into aggregates
Posted by: Mark Hunter | March 8, 2010 2:57 AM
Chris, are we facing a similar if less visible situation in the Gulf of Mexico? If BP and all involved can "cap" enough to keep the overflow beneath the level of highly visible spill it is now why cannot relatively smaller amounts of oil leak for years, essentially destroying viability of the region?
Posted by: Sher Noble | June 27, 2010 1:35 PM
Hi, Sher: for better or worse, the Gulf of Mexico spill is under far more scrutiny than Indonesia, and the political/financial pressure to properly seal the leak is much higher. Also, at this point there is at least the hope of fully sealing the blow-out via the relief well(s), which was not an option in the case of Lusi.
Posted by: Chris Rowan | June 27, 2010 5:21 PM