Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2015

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

I noticed there's a spike in interest in this topic and I found that a UK website has an article today including an amazing video of the sinkhole swallowing another chunk of land and large trees that is posted to the Assumption Parish Youtube channel:


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Here are the latest updates from the Parish blog:
http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/page/2/

And the UK website that reported today's activity:
Gigantic Louisiana sinkhole swallows dozens of trees whole ? video
Thursday 22 Aug 2013 12:48 pm By Mark Molloy
News reporter

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

https://www.facebook.com/RealCoastalWarriors

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://ascension-assumption.wafb.com...ows-more-trees

Residents pack bags after sinkhole swallows more trees
Submitted by WAFB_Web_Staff
Thursday, August 22nd, 2013, 6:10pm
BAYOU CORNE, LA (WAFB)- Dramatic video of a line of trees getting sucked into the giant sinkhole in Bayou Corne is making waves online and in national news.

It shows entire trees getting sucked into the sinkhole in Assumption Parish.

The clip has convinced some homeowners to start packing their bags...

Posted at the Parish blog:
http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/20...-conservation/

August 22, 2013
5:15 p.m. Update from the Office of Conservation

Sinkhole movement was expected and within the predicted shift zone

BATON ROUGE ? Today, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Secretary Stephen Chustz issued the following statement to update the public on response efforts in Bayou Corne and around the sinkhole. The update was provided after footage was posted online late Wednesday by parish officials that showed a slough-in along the eastern edge of the Bayou Corne sinkhole. Although the footage reinforces the seriousness of the evolving situation in the area and the need to hold Texas Brine accountable, it does not represent a new threat to public safety in the area.
DNR Secretary Stephen Chustz said, ?The sinkhole has continued to grow over time as we?ve expected. This growth is due to surface water, soil and broken rock that has moved down to fill the space created by the Texas Brine cavern operation that failed in August 2012. This movement is something we expect as the sinkhole shifts out into the predicted area. The failed cavern operation also created a pathway for underground oil and natural gas to rise to the surface. We have seen similar sloughing events several times in the past, often covering areas much larger than that which we saw Wednesday. Again, these movements are expected. We have the best experts in the world working to get this community back to normal as quickly and safely as possible...

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://www.stuarthsmith.com/update-e...k-at-sinkhole/

Update: Expert says Louisiana officials ?in denial? over radium risk at sinkhole


A veteran radiation expert says Louisiana environmental officials are ?in denial? over the hazard posed by elevated radium levels discovered in the slurry liquids of the massive sinkhole that has forced out residents of the rural town of Bayou Corne.

Stanley Waligora ? a New Mexico-based radiation protection consultant and leading authority on the health risks of naturally occurring radioactive material, or NORM ? confirmed earlier reports that radium levels at the site about 70 miles west of New Orleans are not within limits but roughly 15 times higher than the acceptable level set by the state.

Waligora said officials with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality need to launch immediate additional testing to ensure that the hazardous radium is not leaking into nearby groundwater and posing a threat to human health as well as livestock...
- See more at: http://www.stuarthsmith.com/update-e....GEF41vBQ.dpuf

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://theadvocate.com/news/6985684-...khole-deformed

Road near sinkhole deformed

Officials don?t think events are related

by David J. Mitchell

September 07, 2013

Just another bump in the road in swampy, sinking south Louisiana or a more ominous early warning from the growing Assumption Parish sinkhole?

This sounds strange, especially the circle shape:

The eastbound traffic lane has a raised circular area an inch high and about 2 feet in diameter while two half-inch-tall ridges about 10 feet apart cross the westbound traffic lane.

Strange again:

DOTD officials issued a statement citing movements on Aug. 22 during a seismic event that displayed an ?elastic? property during which La. 70 shifted minutely but returned to its original position.

And a third type of tremor?

Boudreaux did say seismic monitors around the sinkhole picked up a new kind of tremor on Wednesday but asserted the tremor ? a single event that came and went ? is not related to La. 70?s rough patch.

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

The road happenings are a bit odd, aren't they? I've noticed that almost all of the sinkholes I've seen pics of are circular; I wonder why?

The latest update notes a new slough in has happened and a short video has been posted.

September 7, 2013
9:50 a.m. Update

Another slough in occurred overnight on the northern side of the sinkhole. The slough in took approximately 3/4 of the north work pad and trees to the north of the sinkhole. It is estimated to be about a section of 50′ x 75′ on the north side of the sinkhole. A short video of this area will be posted on our You tube site. Although this section is on the north side, it does not jeopardize the north berm or Hwy 70 at this time. A map of the area will be posted as well to show the area. We will keep everyone posted as things develop.

http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/

For those who can't see vids, here's a screen capture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cn4pGO56Yk&feature=player_detailpage&list=UURi6D8S8okOdYsJ-39YOvJw

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/s...econcerns.html

Sep 12
In Louisiana?s 'Cancer Alley,' huge sinkhole creates more concerns
by Jordan Flaherty

For the full story, watch America Tonight at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

To live in southern Louisiana today is to know the pain of displacement and fear of a disappearing coast. We traveled to the southern bayous to visit homes in Bayou Corne, recently evacuated after a sinkhole opened up less than a mile from their doors. We were moved by what we saw in this beautiful community, about an hour southwest of Baton Rouge. We went to an organizing meeting at a library, and heard from residents who spoke of ?scars on top of scars? from both the loss of their homes and the health risks they face in an area known as ?Cancer Alley.?...

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

There was some hopeful news for residents who are trying to keep their homes in Bayou Corne. A technology called Dual Phase Vacuum Extraction (DPVE) is going to be used to hasten removal of gas in a shallow sand layer above the aquifer/aquitard layers. You can read about how that works at the Parish blog:

http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/20...llow-gas-plan/

This is a slide from a CBI consulting group presentation that shows how effective DPVE was in a trial run on Texas Brine property.
http://classic.edsuite.com/proposals...cbi_fi_691.pdf


Also, the results of a sinkhole survey have been published here:
http://classic.edsuite.com/proposals...vey_fi_692.pdf

This is a snippet that shows the discrepancy between John Boudreaux's sinkhole depth measurements and the wireline method used by an engineering firm:



You can see that he has run tests on three different days, with the same results. (The earliest 500+ result was when he ran out of line.)

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

I wonder how the wireline method works. Boudreaux's method is pretty simple.

The videos of the Sept.16 meeting have been posted but I haven't had a chance to listen to them yet.

http://www.youtube.com/user/assumptionla

Also posted is the presentation that was given at the meeting. This one looks very technical; it's a 44 page pdf.

http://dnr.louisiana.gov/assets/OC/BC_All_Updates/BCPublic.Briefing.9172013.pdf

Subsidence info is posted here:

http://dnr.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=1150

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

The Advocate reported a theory about the gas source from a state consultant, geophysicist Don Marlin, that might not have been discussed up until now.

http://theadvocate.com/news/7085262-...ources-feeding

Expert: Deep gas sources feeding Assumption aquifer
by David J. Mitchell
September 18, 2013

...
He also suggested the dissolution of salt from the salt dome and its caprock could be releasing gas naturally trapped in the crystallized salt....

I wonder if he was referring to dissolution of the salt dome by contact with unsaturated water somehow, or the 'outburst' type state changes discussed here:
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...&postcount=112

It's interesting that the CDC was looking at gas releases from salt back in the early 1980's:

www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/UserFiles/works/pdfs/ri8700.pdf
Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations/l982
Methodology for Determining Occluded
Gas Contents in Domal Rock Salt

The Bureau of Mines became interested
in developing information concerning the
occurrence and distribution of gases,
particularly methane (CH,), in the various
salt dome lithologies, as a result of
increased concern about potentially hazardous
methane occurrences in Louisiana
Gulf Coast domal salt mines.
...
Given the relatively impermeable nature
of salt, the occluded gases generally
are not released from their containment
unless mining activities intercept
(1) a gas-filled fissure zone, an area
where the voids between the salt crystals
are interconnected, ( 2 ) a mechanically
unstable zone of gas-enriched salt
that disaggregates, releasing its entrained gases (a blowout), or (3) some other relatively permeable geologic
anomaly (1, 7).

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://www.lsureveille.com/news/prof...a4bcf6878.html

Professor addresses Bayou Corne sinkhole issues at Science Caf?
Posted: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 8:43 pm | Updated: 2:28 am, Wed Sep 25, 2013.

Jonathan Olivier | 0 comments

Posted on September 24, 2013

Jonathan Olivier

by Jonathan Olivier

The steadily growing sinkhole at Bayou Corne was discussed Tuesday at the monthly LSU Science Caf? at Chelsea?s Caf? wth guest speaker Jeffrey Nunn, University Ernest and Alice Neal Professor of Geology.
...
While most sinkholes get shallower and wider, this particular one is getting deeper and wider, he said, and currently it encompasses 25 acres, is 750 ft. deep and is continuously emitting natural gas from the subsurface to the atmosphere.

He seems to be agreeing John Boudreaux's measurements there.

But below there appears to be a backing away from a position held in 12/2012:

An audience member asked Nunn about placing blame on a particular department or company, but, Nunn said, the event is so unprecedented and the affected area lies so far underground that it is hard to tell what caused the sinkhole.

Here is the 12/2012 Advocate article reporting his earlier opinion:

http://theadvocate.com/home/4685215-...ailure-factors

Geologist details failure factors
Company officials reject explanation of sinkhole?s formation
BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
River Parishes bureau
December 26, 2012

The sidewall of a Texas Brine Co. LLC salt cavern inside the Napoleonville Dome was dissolved through the dome?s outer edge, bringing the cavern into contact with surrounding sediment layers outside the dome before the cavern failed, an LSU geologist said Friday.

The assessment by Jeffrey Nunn, Ernest and Alice Neal professor of geology and geophysics and Pereboom professor of science, was a step beyond what other officials and scientists working on the sinkhole response have presented in public meetings and appeared to more closely lay the blame with Texas Brine, which mined the cavern by dissolving the salt...

If there is a a dynamic going on here that is not understood, maybe all extraction and mining in this dome should cease until it is understood.

http://pg.geoscienceworld.org/content/1/2/179.short

B. C. Vendeville, Hongxing Ge and M. P. A. Jackson
Scale models of salt tectonics during basement-involved extension
Petroleum Geoscience(May 1995), 1(2):179-183
Scaled experiments, whose design was based on recently published low values for the viscosity of natural rocksalt, suggest that under typically low geological extension rates, a salt layer 500 m thick or thicker decouples the brittle overburden from the faulted basement. Because of its low viscosity, salt cannot transmit the large differential stresses necessary for basement faults to propagate upward as faults or abrupt forced folds into the brittle overburden, unless the salt layer is thin or has been depleted...

That's what I wonder about here. Salt domes sound like they can operate as shock absorbers, protecting the overburden from basement layer seismic movements. Has this whole dome been over-mined?

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

I read a recent Texas Brine report in which they state:

** Sinkhole surface waters show elevated levels of hydrocarbons and salinity; no impact off-site.
**Deep sinkhole waters contain elevated levels of hydrocarbons and salinity.

http://www.texasbrine.com/response/TBC_Monitoring-Factsheet-FINAL-090513.pdf

As many diagrams as I've seen of the dome, sinkhole and everything that surrounds them, I still can't seem to get a thorough understanding of it all. Is there any way that fresh water could be getting into the cavern? If the sinkhole is filled with the original salt, shouldn't it be losing some of its salinity?

After looking at the picture Nunn was displaying, I find it kind of hard to believe the salt and hydrocarbons have no impact off site.

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/

October 4, 2013
3:15 p.m. Tropical Storm Karen, Press Release #1

Press Release #1
Friday, October 04, 2013
3:00 p.m.

For Immediate Release
Tropical Storm Karen

The Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness will continue to monitor Tropical Storm Karen and advise accordingly. At this time, the parish, in a precautionary measure, has declared a State of Emergency. Currently, no evacuations have been ordered and the Emergency Operations Center will not be activated.

OEP Staff will continue to work with state agencies and the National Weather Service to remain updates on any changing activities.

***************

Sept 30, Oct 1, 3, 4,
Sinkhole Activity Code 2 ? elevated ? increase in number of Very Long Profile seismic activity, generally associated with movement of gas/fluid below sinkhole, in area of sinkhole/Oxy 3 cavern ? requires halting all work directly on sinkhole.


***************

October 3, 2013
8:25 a.m. September Sinkhole Survey

Click here to access the sinkhole survey from September.

http://classic.edsuite.com/proposals/proposals_280/september_2013_sinkhole_survey_fi_709.pdf

Please note that low water and safety restrictions did not allow surveying in the eastern portion of the sinkhole.

***************

October 2, 2013
10:45 a.m. Flaring Possibility @ Crosstex

Crosstex has reported to us that there is a possibility of flaring at their facility today. Maintenance of pumps and lines continue there and although unlikely, the possibility of flaring does exist.

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/

Monday, Oct. 21 work-

Sinkhole Activity Code 2 – indicating no work is allowed directly on sinkhole, elevated due to seismic monitoring indicating trend of increased MEQ (micro-earthquake) activity near sinkhole/Oxy 3 in the past few days

Texas Brine advised that the tagging of Cavern 3 is at 4,097′ which is 75′ lower than last week’s tag. As information becomes available, it will be shared here.

October 18:
Texas Brine advised that the tagging of Cavern 3 is at 4,022′ which is 72′ higher than last week’s tag. As information becomes available, it will be shared here.

***********

I wonder how many total cubic feet is in that 72 feet that rises and falls. More info on that would be interesting.

Some of the seismic monitors have been moved in an ongoing effort to monitor for tremors and pinpoint tremor locations with greater accuracy. Here's a screen cap of the new locations, as well as the link to the monitors:

http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/heli_temp/

http://classic.edsuite.com/proposals/proposals_280/seismic_monitor_map_10182013_fi_712.pdf

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Thanks for posting the updated monitor map, mixin! There certainly seemed to be intense activity recently - especially at LA 17. I can't evaluate that, but do wonder what is happening when I see activity in the middle of the night.

After looking at the picture Nunn was displaying, I find it kind of hard to believe the salt and hydrocarbons have no impact off site.

LEAN just published test data from a soil sample taken this summer:

http://leanweb.org/our-work/community/public-health/bayou-corne/soil-sample-testing-results-from-the-bayou-corne-sinkhole

Hopefully that is from within the bermed area, (which has increased over time.) Whatever the case, the MRAA, (Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer) is compromised:

Gary Hecox, CBI, Slide Presentation 2/19

Large amounts of gas and some crude oil migrating through Disturbed
Rock Zone (DRZ)
? Flowing into aquifer with gas footprint over 2 square miles
? Brine and hydrocarbon contamination in sinkhole and potentially in MRAA
? Estimate of gas in MRAA >50 million cubic feet in place
? Vent wells have flared ~10 million cubic feet to date
? Known gas bubble vent rate from MRAA estimated at 20 mcfd
? Depth and volume of gas reservoirs is currently unknown

The Parish blog reports that TB is drilling a relief well on the west side of Bayou Corne now.