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...concrete balls. Big ones.
The mud volcano in Porong, Indonesia, has now been spewing its thick ooze for almost a year (since May 29, 2006). The stats on how much mud is flowing is scary. Reports claim that mud flows of up to 126,000 cubic meters (that's 164,801 cubic yards) a day are being recorded.
This is a lot of mud. To put this number into some perspective, it would fill up a 13-story office building with a footprint of 50x50 yards.
Each day.
And there's no sign that the volcano will be stopping anytime soon, if ever. Given the estimated size of the mud source below the volcano and current flow rates, this mud pie could be emptying out for 10's, if not 100's of years!
With nothing traditional working so far (e.g. walls or berms), a radical plan to stop the mud is now underway - thanks to some interesting modeling. The plan, designed by geophysicists, consists of dropping giant concrete balls (weighing up to 250 lbs), linked together on a chain, with four to a chain, into the mouth of the volcano (the largest balls are 16" in diameter). The idea is to "is to make the channel smaller ...narrowing it enough to slow the mud's rise and so decrease its flow rate by up to three-quarters. Forced to go around the chains and balls, the mud will give up some of its energy to friction, vibration and rotation."
The net result is beautifully described: "It will make the mud tired. We're killing the mud softly."
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