World's Largest Mud Volcano Grows Up: Big Pics

In May of 2006, a mud volcano erupted out of a field in densely populated Sidoarjo, Indonesia. Searing hot and feared to be toxic, the watery mess quickly inundated nearby houses, displacing hundreds of families from their homes. Containment walls were set up, overwhelmed, and abandoned.

By the time the flow was brought under control over a square kilometer of land was ruined. And still the volcano erupted. Mud had to be shunted into the nearby river Kali Porong, threatening an ecological disaster.

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Almost four years later, "Lusi" stands as the biggest mud volcano on the planet, and appears to still be growing. An image taken this past October by the Terra satellite shows the volcano has recently taken shape, coalescing from what was a flat lake of slurry last year into a giant pile of muck (image above in false color. Bright whites are reflected sun off water around the volcano, river, and shrimp farms to the east. Image below is the "before" picture of the same area).

Though the volcano has been contained, the oil and gas company Lapindo Brantas was drilling just a few hundred yards from where the main vent first erupted. Analysis of local geology concluded the drilling pierced a water-rich limestone layer under immense pressure. The water tore through an overlying mud layer before rupturing at the surface. Oops. The fiasco cost Lapindo about a quarter billion dollars in damages, and the tab for cleanup is still running.

Meanwhile, the threat to the area is far from over. A tremendous amount of mud that was underground is now at the surface. The weight of the mud is compressing the land around it, and there is evidence that the area is already starting to sink. Even more worrisome, the eruption may have left behind a huge underground cavern. If it collapses, scientists have estimated land at the surface could fall 100 feet or more.

Article by Michael Reilly. Images courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory