[perihelion]

There's that and also the fact that at that depth, the gas is under so much pressure it is (...I believe this is the case) in a liquid state.  So, as it comes up and depressurizes, it eventually gets to a point where the pressure drops enough that it flashes to vapour.  That's at least my current understanding.  I'm back at work, and I'll talk this over with some of the more experienced guys at lunch.

[Fragrag]

I was there twice this summer. My family live near it, some 30 kilometres away. It's pretty FUBAR, the levees are being built higher and higher as they are desperately trying to keep the tollway open, as it's pretty much a bloodline between Surabaya (Second largest city in Indonesia, where most of my family lives), Sidoarjo (where the rest of my family lives) and some city I forgot.

http://users.pandora.be/fragrag/New%20Folder/ This are some photos my dad made on the 24th of July (Thank god for my dad's naming conventions of the folder ) So about two months ago.  I went past it a month later, and the levees (which were hastily built) were twice as high and being reinforced with containers and moisture was seeping through the levees. An hour later they closed the tollway and all traffic was diverted to the streets.

Which, if you have ever been to Indonesia, were already quite frantic, add the trucks and cars usually going through the highway. When I left Indonesia, I'm not sure what happened but some of the levees broke and submerged a village near it. (Which gives my uncle some weird anger management problems whenever he's driving, normally he's a calm man but on the road, Jesus Christ )

[perihelion]

Well, the guys I talked to weren't of much help.  They hadn't heard much about it, and I couldn't provide much useful information.  The two recurring comments were, "Yeah, we do this sort of thing everyday and it is easy to forget just how dangerous it really is," and, "Where in hell is that mud coming from?"  Briefly speculated that they may have drilled into an existing gas well, but that seems unlikely.

So, no help here.  I need to talk to someone involved with the drilling side of things.

[Herra Tohtori]

Personally, I suppose it's a pocket of loose substance, that has during millions of years gathered water and became more and more soft and muddy, mixed with hydrocarbon substances and natural gas generating pressure (in addition to the existing... solido-static pressure? I dunno if that's a word, but what I mean is that there's quite high pressures underground, created by immense amouts of land above - similarly to hydrostatic pressure in fluids.

So, in addition to gas pressure, the pressure is definitely also partialy caused simply by the weigh of land resting above the mud pocket. I would think it's much similar to that if you fill a tube with water (or mud) and then put in a piston and apply pressure, the intact mud pocket prevents the piston from falling. But Lords of Kobol need to be particularly merciful to help you when you bore a hole through the piston with huge wight attached to the piston - or in this case, break the mud pocket and release the horror in the deep. :

I think that's what happening there. The part of the soil above this particular mud pocket is both the piston with this new hole in it, and a huge weigh.

So, time only will tell how much of that mud stuff is going to spew up from that hole, and what will happen to the area around and above the mentioned mud pocket below the surface. Depends of how big the mud pocket actually is, of course.


Alternatively, it might be that the humanity has found the site of R'lyeh.

[Fragrag]

Personally, I suppose it's a pocket of loose substance, that has during millions of years gathered water and became more and more soft and muddy, mixed with hydrocarbon substances and natural gas generating pressure (in addition to the existing... solido-static pressure? I dunno if that's a word, but what I mean is that there's quite high pressures underground, created by immense amouts of land above - similarly to hydrostatic pressure in fluids.

Gathering water is quite plausible, as before the diggings were conducted, I believe the flooded areas were rice paddies. But your theory does seem farfetched.

[Herra Tohtori]

...your theory does seem farfetched.

What, the R'lyeh part?


Other parts of my message were based on sound physics. It's not so much as a theory as it is a hypothesis heavily relying on my (albeit questionable) knowledge of geophysics.

The mud is determined to be coming from an ancient pocket of liquid sediments (ie. mud). It is estimated to be down to 9000 feet deep.

In large proportions, the crust of earth is not exactly solid, it's more elastic. So, if this liquid sediment pocket is wide enough, it has a lot of ground area above it - as a thick plate of stone.

If you hold any plate just from its edges, the center of the plate is bound to bend down due to gravitation. How much, depends of the elastic properties of the plate, and the size and width of it.

So - if the mud pocket is on wide enough area, the "earth plate" on top of it is certainly supported by the pressure inside the mud pocket. Thus, the weigh of the ground above the pocket certainly causes (some) pressure to the pocket. If the pocket's area is not too big, then the crust above it doesn't apply much pressure to the pocket because it can support itself well enough. As the area of the pocket increases, the stress on the ground plate above it increases, and slowly the plate is more and more suported by the increasing pressure in the pocket.

Natural gas and vulcanic phenomena are other things that can cause pressure inside such a pocket. However, it is more than likely to me that all three are involved here, to some extent. As vulcanic activity is quite high at the area, that definitely plays a big role in this... mainly geothermic heat generating pressure in the mud pocket. Natural gas surely adds to the mix, since carbohydron substances are encountered.


Aside from that, the sludge will probably be followed by the great and ancient divine Cthulhu, who will eat our brains while we worship him.

[Fragrag]

I'm just hoping that the underground mudpool isn't big enough so when enough mud has escaped and the ground begins sinking, that it won't engulf my family, especially my grandma and my uncle and aunt..

[perihelion]

http://www.eng.walhi.or.id/kampanye/cemar/industri/060718_lbmud-gasleak_pp/

Not very well written or coherent, so take it with a grain of salt, but it gives a better idea of what probably happened.  The whole truth may never come out, unfortunately.

[shakes head]