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Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2015

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  • #76
    Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

    Assumption Parish Police Jury


    9:00 a.m. Morning Update
    September 26, 2012 //

    Overnight, there was a 30? x 50? slough in on the SE side of the sinkhole (towards Texas Brine). The slough in took many trees and part of the road that was built to park excavators on to resume cleanup activities. This area has never sloughed in before as opposed to previous slough-ins that have taken place in the same spots along the embankment of the sinkhole.

    Tests continue to be run in the cavern. Once any results are available, they will be shared.

    A bubbling spot was observed on Bayou Drive in Pierre Part. DEQ will take samples today that will determine if this bubbling is natural gas or ?swamp gas?. Monitoring was done by OEP and there were no harmful risks detected.
    ...
    "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
    -Nelson Mandela

    Comment


    • #77
      Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

      There are 4 new videos of the sinkhole posted today
      The Assumption Parish Government is operated under a Police Jury system of elected police jurors from the nine wards of the Parish. The Police Jury is responsible for the formation of ordinances and for the general administration and operation of the parish. Parish website: http://assumptionla.com/


      One shows a new bubble site in the sinkhole

      Click image for larger version

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      There is also an updated situation summary here One of the updated comments:
      ? In response to Texas Brine?s assertion that region seismic acitivity caused their cavern to be compromised, USGS stated (on 25 Sept. 2012) that it is their belief that the seismicity is a consequence of the collapse of the cavern, and not the cause of the collapse of the cavern and the formation of the sinkhole
      *******************

      I found some instructions on how to read the helicorder displays from the CERI site They are read from left to right, top to bottom...like a book. The color of the horizontal lines has no particular significance, other than the black ones indicate the beginning of an hour. Each line is 15 minutes long and each chart starts at midnight or noon central time (time is on the left).

      Here are a couple of other sites that explain how to interpret the line movements.



      Of the 6 sites shown on this map, the 4 located centrally seem to be the most active at the current time. Here is how #1 at Bayou Corne looked overnight when the sinkhole was expanding.

      These show the 24 hour period beginning at midnight on 9.25

      If there is anyone on this site who knows how to interpret these, your help would be very appreciated.

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      The salvage of human life ought to be placed above barter and exchange ~ Louis Harris, 1918

      Comment


      • #78
        Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

        University of Utah has a detailed article about how scientists differentiate between tremors caused by natural earthquakes vs. those caused by mining. (The earthquake they believe was caused by a mine collapse in this cases was huge - a magnitude 5.4 seismic event!):

        http://www.seis.utah.edu/edservices/EES/Mining.shtml
        ROCK BURSTS AND MINING TREMORS

        One important aspect of research at the University of Utah Seismograph Stations is related to mining in earthquake country. Specifically, researchers are working to answer two questions, "Do earthquakes trigger mine collapses?" and "Does mining trigger earthquakes?"

        This research has resulted from several important issues related to mine collapse accidents:
        • distinguishing between real earthquakes and mining activity
        • accountability and liability after a mine collapse
        • mine safety and engineering

        There was another case in the news recently that involved a dispute over the cause of a mine collapse:

        http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...7bd_story.html
        Utah coal mine operator agrees to nearly $1 million in fines for 2007 collapse that killed 9
        Associated Press, Friday, September 28, 1:06 AM SALT LAKE CITY ? The operator of the Utah mine that collapsed in 2007, killing nine people, has reached a $949,351 settlement with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration over safety violations. Genwal Resources Inc., an affiliate of Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp., denied Thursday that any of the violations led to the deadly collapse, which leveled a section of the Crandall Canyon mine as large as 63 football fields. From the start, Murray Energy chief Bob Murray insisted that the cave-in was triggered by a natural earthquake...
        _____________________________________________

        Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

        i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

        "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

        (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
        Never forget Excalibur.

        Comment


        • #79
          Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

          There's a new article in the Advocate that focuses on the concerns of Bayou Corne/Grand Bayou residents.

          http://theadvocate.com/news/4007744-...ious-to-return
          Sinkhole evacuees anxious to return home

          BY MARK H. HUNTER
          Special to The Advocate
          September 30, 2012
          The article reports that diesel fumes are still a problem, and are present at La. 70, a half-mile away from the sinkhole.

          Also, one of the long-time residents, Harry Boudreaux, voices concerns that the whole dome has been sinking over the years as solution mining and storage cavern creation has proliferated in the area. He describes observations of subsidence that he has witnessed over the decades.

          Here's an article written by a Sandia National Lab scientist about subsidence and solution mining in salt domes:

          http://iahs.info/redbooks/a200/iahs_200_0225.pdf
          Land Subsidence (Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Land
          Subsidence, May 1991). IAHS Publ. no. 200,1991.

          Prediction of Subsidence Resulting from Creep Closure of
          Solutioned-Mined Caverns in Salt Domes

          JAMES T. NEAL
          Underground Storage Technology Division 6257,
          Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM,
          USA

          ABSTRACT The prediction of subsidence over
          solution-mined caverns in salt domes is based
          on some fifty years' solution mining history.
          Several approaches contribute to predictions:
          site-specific observations obtained from
          subsidence monitoring; numerica modeling, now
          becoming more practicable and credible; saltcreep
          data from testing; and rule-of-thumb
          methods, based on experience. All contribute to
          understanding subsidence but none are totally
          reliable alone. The example of subsidence at
          the Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites
          demonstrates several principles of cavern creep
          closure, the main cause of the subsidence, and
          shows that reliable projections of future
          subsidence are possible.
          INTRODUCTION
          Solution mining in salt is now a mature technology,
          having been practiced for more than 50 years, first in
          Europe and now extensively along the U. S. Gulf Coast.
          More than 500 permits for solution mining have been issued
          by the State of Texas alone, with the Barbers Hill dome at
          Mont Belvieu, Texas, having more than 100 caverns.
          Caverns are created as a result of dissolution during
          extraction of brine, and intentionally for storage of
          liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons, or other material such as
          industrial waste.
          [snip]
          Although common in occurrence, subsidence has not been
          widely reported on, possibly because of the perception of
          adverse publicity which most companies and institutions
          wish to avoid
          , and because of difficulty in obtaining
          accurate measurements. Subsidence is an acknowledged fact
          of life wherever large underground voids have been
          created, and openings in salt follow specific rules
          related to the rh?ologie behavior of salt...
          Sandia has a news release about their support in the Bayou Corne sinkhole/gas bubbling situation:

          https://share.sandia.gov/news/resour...-in-louisiana/
          Sandia Labs News Releases

          September 26, 2012
          Sandia experts help when sinkhole opens up in Louisiana


          ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ? The U.S. Geological Survey turned to Sandia National Laboratories for help when the earth opened up last month near Bayou Corne, La.

          Sandia?s David Borns is providing technical evaluations in weekly teleconferences about possible causes and remedies for a 300-foot-wide sinkhole there...
          _____________________________________________

          Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

          i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

          "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

          (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
          Never forget Excalibur.

          Comment


          • #80
            Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

            Good find Emily! News is slow in coming; the company daily updates are about a week behind... and we are still waiting for the test results on the cavern.

            This snip from the Sandia release is info I had not seen before:

            It was reportedly originally about 300 feet deep, but Borns said only one part was that deep; the rest was about 50 feet deep.
            Here is the latest map showing the new bubble sites on the left side and the other sites on the right side of the map. (I added the arrows). It's worrisome that bubbling has spread that far west, if it's from the same source as the rest of the sites.

            Click image for larger version

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            Here is the new maps and presentations link


            and the updated FAQ page
            The salvage of human life ought to be placed above barter and exchange ~ Louis Harris, 1918

            Comment


            • #81
              Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

              Here is the latest map showing the new bubble sites on the left side and the other sites on the right side of the map. (I added the arrows). It's worrisome that bubbling has spread that far west, if it's from the same source as the rest of the sites.
              Thanks, mixin. I didn't realize how far the bubbles had spread. That map makes it very clear. There's another good map that the OpEdNews author modified to highlight the growth of the sinkhole here:

              http://www.opednews.com/articles/Mys...20929-961.html

              The Examiner has an article about some news shared at meeting on the situation.

              http://www.examiner.com/article/hydr...l-75-atop-hole

              It sounds like the bottom of the cavern has been breached by hydrocarbons of some sort. It might be oil. The cavern seems a long way from finding equilibrium.

              The Parish posted a video of clean-up efforts at the sinkhole. As the camera pans away from the working equipment to survey the vast contamination of the site, it's just overwhelming. I hope the workers have proper respirators and life jackets on at all times.

              <object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2pcLQhfyLkY?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2pcLQhfyLkY?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
              Last edited by Emily; October 3, 2012, 04:53 AM. Reason: Corrected to say cavern bottom, not sinkhole was breached.
              _____________________________________________

              Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

              i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

              "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

              (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
              Never forget Excalibur.

              Comment


              • #82
                Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

                The videos of the residents' meeting last Saturday is at YouTube. They broke it down into 23 parts so each one is about 4 minutes long.

                The Assumption Parish Government is operated under a Police Jury system of elected police jurors from the nine wards of the Parish. The Police Jury is responsible for the formation of ordinances and for the general administration and operation of the parish. Parish website: http://assumptionla.com/


                I took some notes from the first 9 videos, the first 2 were mostly updates that we've already heard. Then came Brian Davis from Shaw talking about the cavern findings.

                They used sonar to examine the walls, pinging every 3? all around the cavern at multiple depths. Whatever is in the bottom of the cavern is solid and the sonar weight would not penetrate it. So the sonar could not ping the area of solid material (1600 ft.). Davis said the area from 4000 ft. up to the top of the cavern is very similar to the last sonar taken in 2007. He concluded the breach was somewhere in the area of the solid material.

                In vid #5, there was a slightly heated discussion between one of the residents and the officials. The resident asked (but didn't state it clearly enough) how the top protective layer of diesel escaped from the cavern into the sinkhole if the top wasn't compromised. After some confusion regarding the question was cleared up, Davis finally admitted in vid #7 they did not know the answer to that question.

                In video #9, a resident also asked about the possibility of another cavern collapse and what they would do about it. Steven Chustz, from the DNR, said they are looking at monitoring all of the caverns in the dome.

                They give the residents a lot of info about what is currently being done but very little regarding the "what ifs".

                They also uploaded some new flyover vids at that same link. The cleanup of the sinkhole has resumed and it looks a lot better. It has done some serious spotty expansion, shown in the second screen cap.

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                The salvage of human life ought to be placed above barter and exchange ~ Louis Harris, 1918

                Comment


                • #83
                  Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

                  Thanks very much for taking the time to review the videos, mixin! I looked at the cavern sketch you posted here, and if I am reading things right, they think the bottom 2/3's of the cavern is badly compromised.

                  I'm surprised they don't know what that dense material is at the bottom of the cavern. How many possibilities could there be? Wonder why the ROV has not been sent in:

                  http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login...umber%3D726339
                  A specialized ROV for inspection of salt dome caverns
                  Abstract

                  An underwater remotely operated vehicle was designed to enter a solution-mined cavern in the Clovelly salt dome in southern Louisiana to survey the condition of its interior, take core samples, and restore its structural integrity using a new gel technology. Preliminary experiments were conducted to determine the operating environment inside the cavern. The resulting vehicle system was deployed inside the cavern, and completed the first phase of operations, including survey, sample collection, and distribution of gel.
                  Maybe this one is already too far gone to fix now, but they could at least find out what kind of rocks are in there.

                  Apparently a 'controlled collapse' was used once to deal with a whole solution mined field that went awry in Romania. (They decided to close the entire field down for the sake of nearby residents' safety):

                  http://www.springerlink.com/content/5766716138727x2t/
                  Microseismic Monitoring of a Controlled Collapse in Field II at Ocnele Mari, Romania
                  C-I. Trifu and V. Shumila

                  Abstract
                  Several decades of faulty exploitation of salt through solution mining led to the creation of an underground cavern containing several million cubic meters of brine. To eliminate the huge hazard near a densely inhabited area, a technical solution was implemented to resolve this instability concern through the controlled collapse of the roof while pumping the brine out and filling the cavern with sterile. To supervise this, an area of over 1 km2 was monitored with a staggered array of 36 one-component, 15 Hz geophones installed in 12 boreholes about 160?360 m deep. A total of 2,392 seismic events with M w −2.6 to 0.2 occurred from July 2005 to March 2006, located within an average accuracy of 18 m. The b-value of the frequency-magnitude distribution exhibited a time variation from 0.5 to 1 and from there to 1.5, suggesting that the collapse initiated as a linear fracture pattern, followed by shear planar fragmentations and finally a 3-D failure process. The brunching ratio of seismicity is indicative of a super-critical process, except for a short period in mid-February when temporary stability existed. Event relocation through the use of a collapsing technique outlines that major clusters of seismicity were associated with the main cavern collapse, whereas smaller clusters were generated by the fracturing of smaller size nearby caverns...
                  When you get a bunch of these caverns in close proximity to each other, they essentially become a system like one big underground pillar and room salt mine, with the unmined land between the caverns acting as the pillars holding the entire overburden up. When the virtual pillars collapse in such a system, several caverns form one massive one then.
                  _____________________________________________

                  Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

                  i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

                  "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

                  (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
                  Never forget Excalibur.

                  Comment


                  • #84
                    Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

                    Emily,
                    they think the bottom 2/3's of the cavern is badly compromised.
                    I agree with your comment based on the measurements we have; but Davis said the top 2/3 was not compromised. However, he's only been involved for a couple of weeks, so maybe he just got it a little backwards.

                    The residents are asking good, straight-up questions that deserve answers. One asked about a possibility of something happening (I couldn't understand the question, something about gas venting) and Chustz avoided answering. There was a bit of heated exchange and Chustz came back to the podium and answered: yes, there is the possibility but we are going to do it safely so it doesn't. Another question was what gas pressure they had in mind and they got no answer, until they absolutely pushed the issue. I guess the officials forget that a few residents remember the Gulf South incident.

                    I didn't know they had ROVs for salt domes; how big are they? If I'm understanding the diagram of the cavern roof, the only opening in the top of it is the 6 1/8" borehole.

                    Golden Gate Petroleum has an oil/gas well interest in this salt dome. Here is a 2010 article, detailing their project and containing this map. I wish I could find the original map; it's hard to tell what sands are up against the dome where the cavern is.

                    I find no mention of that gas/oil drilling in the area; I wonder if the officials have ruled those out as possibilities for the gas leaks. If they have indeed been monitoring all of the brine/storage caverns, they would surely know if one of the storage wells was leaking. Chustz replied to to a cavern monitoring question but he didn't give any results of that monitoring.


                    Click image for larger version

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                    The salvage of human life ought to be placed above barter and exchange ~ Louis Harris, 1918

                    Comment


                    • #85
                      Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

                      I didn't know they had ROVs for salt domes; how big are they? If I'm understanding the diagram of the cavern roof, the only opening in the top of it is the 6 1/8" borehole.
                      There are few details available about that salt cavern ROV, but I can't imagine it being small enough to fit through a pipe that size. I wonder about exploring the sinkhole for access to the cavern with an ROV? In the latest Texas Brine update, the substance at the bottom of the cavern is being described as a 'sediment' so I wonder did some cavern brine and diesel exchange places with the missing matter in the sinkhole? But most likely any channels are closed by now if that did happen, I suppose.

                      Whatever it is, the parish says that Texas Brine is running a 'wire line' to sample it now. Also the parish says the fingerprinting of the cavern gas should be done next week. That could solve a big mystery if all the bubble fingerprints match that.

                      I watched the last video in the meeting series, and an official at the end said that what is happening at the dome is complex and unprecedented in this country. They are aware of similar things happening in other countries, (maybe like the case in Romania), and it sounded like they are trying to get more information about those cases.

                      Here's the latest Advocate article about drilling to remove gas:

                      http://theadvocate.com/news/4070183-...emove-gas-near
                      _____________________________________________

                      Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

                      i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

                      "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

                      (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
                      Never forget Excalibur.

                      Comment


                      • #86
                        Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

                        There are reports of tremors and explosive sounds in a couple more parishes in southern Louisiana:

                        http://www.examiner.com/article/myst...-from-sinkhole
                        Mysterious tremors 45 miles from sinkhole

                        top national news
                        October 5, 2012
                        By: Deborah Dupre

                        http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20...21009798?tc=ar
                        Mysterious tremors raise questions
                        Xerxes A. Wilson
                        Staff Writer
                        Published: Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 9:59 p.m.
                        Last Modified: Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 9:59 p.m.

                        Nobody quite knows what caused the ground in some parts of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes to shake, but it certainly has people talking...
                        Officials say it's not related to the Bayou Corne situation, but these are also salt dome areas with caverns, from what I understand, so people can't help but think of the Assumption Parish sinkhole.

                        You'll have to hit the '-' sign to see all the new points of interest:
                        • A: Lockport, LA
                        • B: Raceland, LA
                        • C: Houma, LA
                        • D: Pierre Part, LA (A few miles southwest of sinkhole where new bubbles and some tremors were reported recently, too,)

                        <iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&amp;source=s_d&amp;saddr=Lockport,+LA&amp ;daddr=Raceland,+LA+70394+to:Houma,+LA+to:Pierre+P art,+LA&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=Fd9cxAEdDHua-illtqj2cOMghjG6jd5wv7m65Q&#37;3BFcmaxQEdwJGZ-imF5p2q4OEghjF2bRngaV2jqg%3BFXqYwwEd0bqX-indH8ENwwQhhjFhcgx8c1hlNg%3BFZI7yQEdqVmQ-im5QoUkBlghhjEC_JbsvYiGoA&amp;aq=0&amp;oq=pie&amp; sll=29.668963,-90.637207&amp;sspn=2.529556,3.532104&amp;gl=us&amp ;mra=ls&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;ll=29.7809,-90.878615&amp;spn=0.37012,0.67873&amp;t=m&amp;outp ut=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&amp;source=embed&amp;saddr=Lockport,+LA&a mp;daddr=Raceland,+LA+70394+to:Houma,+LA+to:Pierre +Part,+LA&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=Fd9cxAEdDHua-illtqj2cOMghjG6jd5wv7m65Q%3BFcmaxQEdwJGZ-imF5p2q4OEghjF2bRngaV2jqg%3BFXqYwwEd0bqX-indH8ENwwQhhjFhcgx8c1hlNg%3BFZI7yQEdqVmQ-im5QoUkBlghhjEC_JbsvYiGoA&amp;aq=0&amp;oq=pie&amp; sll=29.668963,-90.637207&amp;sspn=2.529556,3.532104&amp;gl=us&amp ;mra=ls&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;ll=29.7809,-90.878615&amp;spn=0.37012,0.67873&amp;t=m" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>
                        Last edited by Emily; October 5, 2012, 05:11 PM. Reason: Fixed link.
                        _____________________________________________

                        Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

                        i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

                        "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

                        (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
                        Never forget Excalibur.

                        Comment


                        • #87
                          Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

                          This is getting so complicated we could subtitle this thread as: More than we ever thought we would know about salt domes.

                          In vid #19, one of the officials said the preliminary fingerprint results, aka isotope testing, had just come in. In his non-expert opinion, he thought the gas from the cavern and the gas from some of the bubble sites was very similar. He said the experts would look at them and hopefully they would know more "next week", which should have been this week. So we continue to wait...

                          One of the residents did ask about intentionally collapsing the failed cavern and Davis laughingly said he hoped he was back in Texas if they tried something like that.

                          They reassured residents that there was nothing dangerous health-wise in the air samples and the smell from the diesel was very unpleasant but compared it to the health risks of smelling a dead skunk.

                          The resident asked about monitoring the elevations around Highway 70 and that expert said they were unchanged. Resident asked if they could use the 1960's as a benchmark, claiming he thought the road had sunk over the years. The highway info will be posted on the site.

                          *******************
                          Emily, your comments about the pillars added to my curiosity about the dome. Here is the link to the USGS report: SALT-DOME LOCATIONS IN THE GULF COASTAL PLAIN, SOUTH-CENTRAL UNITED STATES

                          Page 28 shows Napoleonville dome has a volume 7.7 cubic miles. I had intended to calculate how much salt had been mined; but then realized unless we know the depth of all of the caverns and the shape of the dome, it's kind of a moot point.
                          The salvage of human life ought to be placed above barter and exchange ~ Louis Harris, 1918

                          Comment


                          • #88
                            Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

                            Gas trapped near sinkhole<!--/fi:/csp/mediapool/sites/Advocate/assets/csp/storyheadline.csp, e:.000473 --></HEADER><!--/fi:/csp/mediapool/sites/Advocate/assets/templates/common/Header.csp, e:.007148 -->
                            <!-- fi:/csp/mediapool/sites/Advocate/assets/templates/common/Main.csp -->
                            By David J. Mitchell
                            River Parishes bureau
                            October 08, 2012

                            An as-yet undetermined amount of natural gas is trapped in the aquifer underneath the Bayou Corne community, state and parish officials have said.
                            ...
                            John Boudreaux, director of the Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said there are concerns the gas can build up pressure under the clay layer that lies above the aquifer.

                            Once the pressure in the aquifer reaches a pressure greater than 75 to 85 pounds per square inch, the clay layer might not be able to hold back the accumulated gas, according to Boudreaux and geologists.

                            ?And then it could be a problem because you do not know where the weak point would be until after it has already done its thing,? Boudreaux said.

                            He said contractors started driving casing Saturday for three vent wells in Bayou Corne to get a better idea about what is happening underground, where the gas is located, so the gas can be vented off.
                            ...

                            Full text:
                            "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
                            -Nelson Mandela

                            Comment


                            • #89
                              Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

                              I assumed that everyone who was in an area that could be affected by fumes from the sinkhole were in the evacuation zone that could receive aid from Texas Brine to relocate, but that isn't true.

                              Family with 2 and 6 yr-old children suffering headaches, earaches, nausea and respiratory problems strongly correlated to air pollution from sinkhole that reaches their home 2 miles from the sinkhole when the wind is blowing in that direction:
                              http://www.examiner.com/article/gass...xposes-coverup

                              I think the evacuation zone should have included areas with children if they are being routinely exposed to fumes. It sounds like the family above is also near one of the newer bubbling sites in the Pierre Part area.

                              There is a petition to extend the evacuation zone online:



                              They say they need more signatures.
                              _____________________________________________

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                              • #90
                                Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012

                                The smell was brought up by a resident at the meeting. He said some people claimed their headaches and other sypmtoms went away after they were evacuated. They are being asked to contact the number on their site (health dept?) and give all of their symptoms.

                                Here are the recent updates at the Assumption Parish Blog

                                October 8, 2012 Regarding the Highway Survey:
                                The Location and Survey Section of DOTD has been conducting surveys along La. Hwy. 70 for the purpose of detecting any possible movement in the roadway. To date four surveys have been conducted on points that were set for this purpose. The resulting data from the four surveys has been entered into an automated spreadsheet that compares coordinate and elevation values of each survey to the first survey.

                                DOTD survey crews began preparations to conduct the surveys on 08-06-12 setting the control points necessary to conduct the surveys, establishing the coordinates and elevations of the control points and setting the points that would be monitored.

                                The first survey was completed on 08-15-12 which is the benchmark survey to which the subsequent surveys are being compared. The subsequent surveys were completed on 08-22-12, 09-19-12 and 09-25-12.

                                Additional surveys will be conducted and the resulting data will be compared to the benchmark survey data. (One of the residents asked them to go back to the 60's for the benchmark. One prior to the sinkhole forming would have been better than the 8-15 benchmark, IMO)

                                At this time, the data comparisons do not indicate to us that there is any detectable movement in the roadway. The small differences we see in the data appear to us to be normal survey error which is typical in survey measurements. We have made our survey data available to the scientific community for their assessment.

                                The survey data can be found here:


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

                                October 9, 2012 8:45 a.m.
                                Driving of casing in the third vent well is complete, they were able to go down to 200′. We are advised to expect flaring by the weekend.

                                We have been advised that Texas Brine is continuing clean up at the sinkhole site.

                                The resident briefing will be held this evening at 6:00 p.m. at the Command Post.

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

                                October 9, 2012 10:50 a.m.
                                There has been a 10′ x 50′ foot slough in of the sinkhole on the SW side (towards the pipeline right-of-way, the 50′ is along the embankment of the hole). Five trees were lost during this slough in. Clean up has been halted until further notice.

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

                                From Texas Brine:
                                Texas Brine will have a representative at the community meeting scheduled
                                for 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 9th at the command center on Hwy. 70 at
                                Bayou Corne.
                                Last edited by mixin; October 9, 2012, 12:07 PM. Reason: additional info
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