Published: March 13th, 2013 at 6:26 pm ET
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Title: Jindal: Buyouts in line for sinkhole evacuees
Source: The Advocate
Author: DAVID J. MITCHELL
Date: March 13, 2013
John Boudreaux, director of the Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said work has ceased in the 71-acre swamp area within a containment berm under construction around the sinkhole.
“Any activity within the berm area was stopped this morning,” he said. [...]
Boudreaux said the micro-earthquakes are continuing about every 15 minutes.
The micro quakes have also been called sharp tremors. [...]
[University of Memphis earthquake researcher Steve Horton] also reported Wednesday the detection of different kinds of tremors, known as a very long period events, which have been associated with gas or fluid movement through the collapse zone, parish officials said.
These events were detected by a seismic monitor located [...] west of the sinkhole [...]
Also from today: Officials: 'Spasmodic burst' near giant sinkhole -- Around 100 micro quakes reported overnight
Published: March 13th, 2013 at 6:26 pm ET
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sending...
Sounds like it is all going to come to a head very shortly, please take precautions.
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Hwy weeman – not to a head sir, just an end to this particular chapter, the collapse of oxy 1, there are many more caverns yet to collapse. This will go on for years to come. The geography of bayou corne is being redefined as we speak. There is a huge oil deposit underneath all this mess called the BIG HUM that the oil companies are chomping at the bit to get at. Bayou Corne is done for. Never to be habitated again. (The current residential area anyway)The residents will have their buyouts soon and move on with their lives. The containment of these pollutants MUST be the priority of The oil companies and the State. These berms are a temporary bandaid that will not hold in the long run. The ARMY CORPS of Engineers is the only hope the bayous of Southern Louisianna has of surviving this catastrophe. They have to build concreted heavy duty levys similar to the ones protecting New Orleans. Any other actions will result in a massive environmental catastrophe to the bayous south of Bayou Corne. Built up dirt roads will not cut it. Deeply embeded concrete and steel beams and walls are needed. Without them a hurricane will dispurse these pollutants over a much wider area. Anyone at the State or Governmental level reading this??? ARMY CORPS of ENGINEERS!!! Our countrys finest are needed. They have the equipment and personnel needed. ARMY CORPS of ENGINEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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According to the geophones, the voids underneath just sucked up a lot of Lake Oxy 3, or Lake Fubar, whichever you prefer. This is worriesome if true, as logic tells us these voids have access to the salt wall, endangering Oxy 1 and it is unclear if Oxy 2 may now be involved…
I found a very disturbing DNR Report on Oxy 2 buried in Inspection Reports.
“2:30 PM acquire gas bubble samples from the swamp area West of the Texas Brine work shop and North of the Texas Brine Vent Well #1. Sampling performed by the Shaw group.
Oxy Geismar #2 S/N 151646 is leaking gas bubbles from the cement catch basin that surrounds the wellbore. The catch basin was damaged when work on the well was performed last week. The bubbling was heard and noticed today. Texas Brine was notified of the bubbling.”
http://dnr.louisiana.gov/assets/OC/BC_All_Updates/INSPECTION_REPORTS/2013/20130121PMinspectorreport
Please keep in mind this was after the twin burps that occurred on Jan. 19th. Question is, what damages could cause bubbling on a concrete catch basin around Oxy 2? None that I know of. These methane seeps come from the aquifer, the top of which is roughly 100 ft. The damage would be below ground. The devil is the details.
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Try this one instead, 16Tenny..
http://tinyurl.com/ckqkk32
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That one worked.
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That is a bombshell!
"Oxy Geismar #2 S/N 151646 is leaking gas bubbles from the cement catch basin that surrounds the wellbore. The catch basin was damaged when work on the well was performed last week. The bubbling was heard and noticed today. Texas Brine was notified of the bubbling.”
That is east and north of the failed dome isn't it? And further under the caprock?
If it is now the path of least resistance for gas, does it just mean that it is just following the casing and borehole from the aquifer up or is it coming all the way up from the salt formation?
Either way it is scary. It is likely they shifted the pipe whenever the accident happened but it is also possible that the geology shifted enough to open a pathway for the formation gasses to escape. If the geology is shifting that far back from OXY3 then the integrity of the caprock may be in jeopardy.
I tried to follow your link but it came up "page not found". Can you repost please?
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16Penny. Looking at the scene from the side what we would see would be a 'T' shape. The top of the T would be the aquifer which spreads out between the cap rock and the surface. The bottom of the T would be the cavity that is part of the sinkhole that is now down into the dome well underground.
Gas release would come from that leg of the T up to the aquifer and spread across the top of the T. Finding an opening in the surface cap as it travels laterally in the aquifer, it would then rise up into the atmosphere.
Gas is moving from the oil and gas bearing sediment up the leg of the T and if it can't get past a temporary plug in the sinkhole it can travel in the confines of the aquifer. If the sinkhole were an open shot all the way to the surface, I'd venture to say the gas would come right up the sinkhole. So the sinkhole must be plugged forcing lateral movement.
Of course they can't put a pipe down in the sinkhole or clear the plug, so they are having to deal with an aquifer that is now the new avenue for gas movements.
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SwimsWithGators
"Gas is moving from the oil and gas bearing sediment up the leg of the T and if it can't get past a temporary plug in the sinkhole it can travel in the confines of the aquifer. If the sinkhole were an open shot all the way to the surface, I'd venture to say the gas would come right up the sinkhole. So the sinkhole must be plugged forcing lateral movement."
I hear you about the lack of bubbling and oily discharge from the center of the stinkhole that happens after a large slough in event plugs the hole.
My interest is, at what depth? Is the gas being trapped in the aquifer or is it further down the throat of this beast. If the gas migration is occurring further down and finding it's way through the caprock, the seam between the caprock and salt or further down in the salt formation then it would be very concerning.
"Gas is moving from the oil and gas bearing sediment up the leg of the T"
Does that mean more room in the formations for liquid hydrocarbons to accumulate? I would think so. Or water. Consider those mineral rights in the buyout process.
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When the cavern collapsed, it caused the sinkhole. In the process of the sinkhole forming the confining layers of the aquifer suddenly had a hole in the bottom layer. Water busted through the cap rock. When the water was now able to go down further, it eroded the salt creating larger voids below ground. It also could have eroded the sediments.
As it did, it became the avenue – the leg of the 'T' – for gas to begin moving. Before the water got down that far, the gas and oil were trapped. Gas and oil float on water so as the water went further down, it freed up more gas and oil. It also displaced the captured oil and gas in the sediments.
These freed hydrocarbons rose right up the leg of the T avenue of water.
In the fracking sense where water is pumped down into a hole, forcing the oil and gasses to rise, this situation is similar. Problem here is they do not have a single capture point at the surface, instead gas and oil is spreading laterally in the only free space available and that is the water column and aquifer.
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If the ground is moving down deep, it can mean only one thing. The salt dome is being eroded.
Water running down the leg of the T is eroding the salt and saturating the sediments. As the salt erodes, the sediment in contact with the salt moves to fill the void left from the salt dissolving.
The salt dome when forming pushed up from below through the sediments. At the edges of the salt and sediments it would look like this
sediment//salt. As the salt erodes it now looks like this
sediment/-salt. The sediment is moving to where the salt was. Also, the water now introduced at great pressures is eroding the sediment too.
Great waterfilled voids are being created underground. Any sediments above or to the sides of these voids will move into the voids.
As each layer drops recorders record the movements. As the salt continues to erode more sediments will move to fill the voids and more movements until it reaches a point where the salt no longer is eroding.
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Reposting here..
The salt eroding..is only part of the problem..faulting..micro-cracking.. fracturing .etc..have to be added to the mix.
"For salt storage caverns in close proximity to the edge of salt, an accurate assessment
of the edge of salt is critical for prudent and efficient cavern operation. It should be noted that
the edge of salt does not necessarily correspond with the limits of “good quality salt” as salt
quality tends to degrade toward the peripheral edge of a salt structure"
Edge of Salt Definition for Salt Domes and Other Deformed Salt Structures –
Geologic and Geophysical Considerations
Spring 2003
http://www.geostockus.com/wp-content/uploads/Looff-Duffield-Looff-Spring2003.pdf
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Nonstop quakes at bayou corne sinkhole – over 200 a day now
http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/heli_temp/LA14_HHZ_YC_–.2013031612.gif
http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/heli_temp/
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