Scientists finally uncover the source of the world's largest mud eruption in Java that once spewed enough debris to fill 72 Olympic swimming pools a day - and is still going

.


Daily Mail, 27/10/2017

Eruption on the Indonesian island Java first began in May 2006, researchers say
At its peak, it was spilled enough to fill 72 Olympic swimming pools each day
Experts found its connected to the magma chamber of a nearby volcano system

Just over 10 years ago, an explosive natural phenomenon sent many residents of the Indonesian island Java fleeing their homes.

Mud first began erupting from several sites on May 29, 2006, spewing from the ground in jets of hot rocks and gas – and, by September of that year, it was spilling enough to fill 72 Olympic-sized swimming pools every day.

The ongoing eruption has baffled experts and locals alike since it first emerged, but now, scientists say they may have finally uncovered the source of the mudflows.

In a new study, researchers have found evidence to suggest the eruption, dubbed Lusi, is connected deep underground to the magma chambers of the nearby Arjuno-Welirang volcanic complex.

A team led by researchers at the University of Oslo used geophysics to map the area beneath the eruption, known as Lusi.

Since it began, the mud has buried some villages as much as 40 feet deep (130 feet), and forced nearly 60,000 people to leave.

It continues to spew mud periodically, and now leaks roughly 80,000 cubic meters (3 million cubic feet) of mud each day – or, enough to fill 32 Olympic-sized pools.

‘We clearly show the evidence that the two systems are connected at depth,’ said lead author Adriano Mazzini, a geoscientist at CEED – University of Oslo.

‘What our new study shows is that the whole system was already existing there – everything was charged and ready to be triggered.’

The study found Lusi is connected to the Arjuno-Welirang complex by a system of faults 6 kilometers (4 miles) underground.

And, the magma from the volcano has been ‘baking’ the sediments beneath Lusi, causing pressure to build beneath the surface until it erupts.

‘It’s just a matter of reactivating or opening these faults and whatever overpressure you have gathered in the subsurface will inevitably want to escape and come to the surface, and you have a manifestation on the surface, and that is Lusi,’ Mazzini said.

After years studying the site, the authors installed a network of 31 seismometers in the region two years ago, to create 3D images of the subsurface network.

With 10 months of data, the researchers were able to map out the area below Lusi and the nearby volcanoes.
This revealed a tunnel protruding from the northernmost magma chamber into Lusi’s sedimentary basin.

The reactions caused by the magma and hydrothermal fluids interacting with the sediments create gas trapped beneath the surface, which builds to extremely high pressures.

Then all it takes is a disturbance, such as an earthquake, to cause an eruption.

The researchers suspect a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck the island just two days before the first mud eruption set off the strange phenomenon.

This earthquake likely reactivated the fault system, they say.

While it’s not yet clear how long Lusi will continue to erupt, the experts say it doesn’t look like it will cease anytime soon


siK.

( tjonge Bpk Bakri should be smiling reading this, now he wants all his money back )
.