New bubbling site discovered near massive Louisiana sinkhole
Image credit: TW
According to the Assumption Parish Police Jury, new bubbling site was discovered yesterday near the massive sinkhole in south Louisiana (Grand Bayou / Louisiana sinkhole). Officials said the new bubbling site is about 400 m (1/4 mile) north of the Gator Corner.
Texas Brine officials said they are working with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to investigate the cause of the bubbles and develop a path moving forward.
Seismic monitoring indicates continued low levels of subsurface activity near sinkhole/Oxy 3.
The following video of the new bubbling site was published on February 24th:
Video courtesy of Assumption Parish Police Jury
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Image courtesy The Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle
The Bayou Corne sinkhole, also known as Louisiana sinkhole, was discovered in August 2012 when Napoleonville salt dome, a naturally-occurring underground salt deposit, suddenly collapsed after months of unexplained seismic activity and mysterious bubbling at the bayou. The sinkhole grew from 1 to 25 acres in just 12 months and the scariest part of it is that the collapse unlocked tens of millions of cubic feet of explosive gases, which have seeped into the aquifer and wafted up to the community (40 million cubic feet = 1.13 million cubic meters).
Texas Brine, the operator of the salt dome, specializes in a process known as injection mining and had been drilling around the dome in order to extract brine, which is used for refining oil. When they mined the salt dome too close to the edge of the dome, say officials, the side wall collapsed and 350 nearby residents were immediately advised to evacuate.
Assumption Parish declared a state of emergency [August 2012] and Governor Bobby Jindal declared a statewide state of emergency due to the threat of subsidence and subsurface instability that threatens the lives and property of the citizens of the state.
Read more:
Southern berm of Louisiana sinkhole sagging [January 3, 2014]
A timeline of the most important events at the Bayou Corne sinkhole – Louisiana sinkhole [since May 2012]
Featured image courtesy of The Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
@RBGillis: Unfortunately, lobbyists pushing for less (read: insufficient) oversight have created now a situation where less (read: insufficient) analysis is becoming the norm.
This 'Sink hole' is the consequence of NOT having enough exploratory drilling analysis of what conditions existed subsurface! This was an irresponsible undertaking before the necessary pre-drilling investigation was conducted to ascertain what the drilling authority possibly had to contend with, after the fact!