Mudflows in Indonesia as result of geothermal drilling

Alexander Richter 3 Feb 2009

Jakarta Globe reports of a mud volcano in West Nusa Tenggara Province in Indonesia. The mud volcano crater with white smoke of about 50-square-meters contains boiling mud, which flows into a nearby corn field and drains away into a river.

As the article describes, the scenario happens on government-owned land, which was recently drilled by state-owned PLN as part of an attempt to harness geothermal power. The well that was drilled in 2005 did not have enough power to support the power plant, which would have had an installed capacity of 1.8 MW. Supposedly the heavy rains in the area had contributed to the formation of the crater, based on the findings of a geological survey. “Geothermal heat and pressure boiled the rainwater, mixed it with the earth and pushed it out of the ground. While the possible impact is played down by officials, residents are fearful, based on a similar, but much larger and catastrophic mudflow in East Java Province.

Source: JakartaGlobe