Tremors felt 45 miles away from Bayou Corne Sinkhole!

Also, I'm following this on the ground now. I'm 5 miles away hoping I'll get more info quicker, maybe feel a tremor.

Some pretty hefty activity coming from there. It's showing up on multiple monitors too.







Be safe if you are in that area.

M.

I think it just burped.
Check the waveform at 17:19 LA CST- on wards.


I cross checked the time frame, but the only quake showing over a M4 is around 17:05 00:05 UTC.


M.

My thought is something has to give and it seems that it will be sooner then later. It is getting real unstable and I am concerned about what it may release. Oil, methane, hydrogen sulphide? I can't even begin to speculate. To all in the bayou stay safe. That means you CB, be prepared to rock & roll if you need to.

Originally posted by CajunBoy
The sinkhole area is now in Red Alert. I'll be getting a word why soon. Go back to the article Happy posted to get an idea of the color scale they implemented last week. Work has indeed been halted. Hold on to your seats, we may be seeing sinkhole #2 and a new world of environmental hurt.

edit on 14-3-2013 by CajunBoy because: (no reason given)

Here is a QUICK LINK to the posting CB is referring to.

And a DIRECT LINK to the article. The contingency plan with the explanation of the alert color levels is near the bottom of the page.

And, finally, the text of the red level section of the contingency plan.

Red

Seismic Activity: Several hundred micro-seismic events associated with Oxy 1 Cavern stability detected during any 12-hour time period. Action steps include:

1. Immediately notify Assumption Parish Officials, GOHSEP, and State Police that activity has been detected demonstrating that Oxy 1 Cavern shows signs of ongoing structural instability and that surface impact associated with Oxy 1 Cavern may be imminent. Evacuation will be recommended to local officials.

2. Shut in all natural gas vent wells in the Bayou Corne area due to the potential for H2S release from cap rock in the event of a roof collapse of the Oxy 1 Cavern. Natural gas vent wells will remain shut-in until appropriate H2S safety measures are implemented.

3. Notify all operators in the area that structural instability of the Oxy 1 Cavern is ongoing and to take all appropriate actions to protect safety and the environment.

2. Shut in all natural gas vent wells in the Bayou Corne area due to the potential for H2S release from cap rock in the event of a roof collapse of the Oxy 1 Cavern. Natural gas vent wells will remain shut-in until appropriate H2S safety measures are implemented.

Good that they are taking steps in case H2s decides to escape. Question about shutting off the vent wells. They have those to flare off, by shutting them down wouldn't that create pressure? IMO the gas needs to go somewhere.

Originally posted by AuntB
My thought is something has to give and it seems that it will be sooner then later. It is getting real unstable and I am concerned about what it may release. Oil, methane, hydrogen sulphide? I can't even begin to speculate. To all in the bayou stay safe. That means you CB, be prepared to rock & roll if you need to.

Yes, stay safe CB. Be aware that if the dome for the second sinkhole collapses there could be a deadly release of methane, hydrogen sulfide or both. Not to mention the millions of barrels of stored gas if that is what is in the collapsing cavern.

As to the possibility of a second sinkhole, and even a third one as well, I think most of us here on this thread have already deduced that it will happen eventually. We just didn't know how soon, until the "micro quakes" started and the red alert was issued.

And CB was understating it when he referred to "a new world of environmental hurt". If the second collapsing cavern is the one containing the butane, or other compressed or liquified, gas, it has the potential to make the first one look puny in comparison. That much gas could cause suffocation deaths in the thousands, or worse, and trigger an explosion that could rattle my windows in Georgia.

reply to post by happykat39


The next cavern to collapse is a brine cavern. The butane cavern is in a questionable state.

Originally posted by AuntB

2. Shut in all natural gas vent wells in the Bayou Corne area due to the potential for H2S release from cap rock in the event of a roof collapse of the Oxy 1 Cavern. Natural gas vent wells will remain shut-in until appropriate H2S safety measures are implemented.

Good that they are taking steps in case H2s decides to escape. Question about shutting off the vent wells. They have those to flare off, by shutting them down wouldn't that create pressure? IMO the gas needs to go somewhere.

That is exactly why they are drilling the relief wells in the first place, to reduce the underground pressure. Shutting them down is a lose lose situation. They are already experiencing a problem that needs rapid pressure release and they are shutting down the only method they have for releasing the pressure.

Originally posted by CajunBoy
reply to post by happykat39

 

The next cavern to collapse is a brine cavern. The butane cavern is in a questionable state.

That is a relief for now. But I think we will be facing the third, and more dangerous, sinkhole pretty soon if the second one opens up. Then it will really be TSHTF time.

But there is still a potential for release of a lot of natural methane and/or hydrogen sulfide. While that is nowhere near as bad as it would be if the cavern contained the butane, it could still prove to be deadly for people in close proximity to the cavern. Hopefully they are going to evacuate all the people in the danger zone before that happens.

Well shutting off the vents, and shutting off the flames to burn them is a sane move. Remove any likely sources of flame from a potentially explosive release of gas.

It's an unnerving wait, to see what will happen.

M.

reply to post by Moshpet

It is a sane move but like Kat said it is a lose lose almost. That gas has to go somewhere & they drilled to relieve the build up. I just worry about building of pressure by shutting the vent well, then liquid or gasses are shifting all in an unstable area. As far as I recall that collapsed cavern has not filled and stabilized yet. I guess we can be grateful that the rain has finally stopped because that seemed to exacerbate things.

Texas Brine Agrees To Buyouts

“More than 350 lives have been uprooted by the Bayou Corne sinkhole. For months, our administration has been pressuring Texas Brine to step up to the plate and do the right thing for the residents of Bayou Corne. Texas Brine is responsible for the sinkhole, and we’ve remained committed to holding them accountable,” Jindal said in the announcement.

Link

He makes it sound like he's been there fighting for the people all along! Some nerve!

Another bump at 22:34 CST looks significant.




I'm not sure I'd be sleeping easy if I lived near there.

I really wish I have a live feed for GEE so I could see the wave forms better.
M.

Originally posted by Moshpet
Another bump at 22:34 CST looks significant.




I'm not sure I'd be sleeping easy if I lived near there.

I really wish I have a live feed for GEE so I could see the wave forms better.
M.

edit on 14-3-2013 by Moshpet because: 42

This has been posted several time before, but it is an important link to the helicorders for the sinkhole area and needs to be posted again.

They are updated in near real time which makes them useful for watching developments.

CERI Helicorder Page

Here is a map showing some of the helicorder locations. It is out of date a little. If someone has a link or picture for one that is more up to date I would appreciate it.

reply to post by happykat39


Here you go:



It can also be found in this post from page 58.

reply to post by Moshpet

Me, too.
The original seismos around the sinkhole were available in GEE on the GS network. But they have renamed them and switched to the YC network, which I can't seem to get to load in GEE.

From the looks of the CERI helicorder display it seems like work has resumed in some of the sinkhole. The tremors seem to be getting quiet. I do wonder if the sinkhole has claimed some more trees due to the recent activity.

reply to post by Olivine


Thank you Olivine. That is what I was looking for. It shows the locations of the important helicorders. It would be nice to have an even more up to date map but this one will serve our purposes nicely.

Originally posted by Olivine
The original seismos around the sinkhole were available in GEE on the GS network. But they have renamed them and switched to the YC network, which I can't seem to get to load in GEE.

edit on 3/15/2013 by Olivine because: add a response

I have just added a post to the GEE Tips thread describing how to access the Texas Brine temporary network in GEE. It works, and am receiving data on it.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Yep, that is a seismic event- several, actually:


Just happened, and caught a few more earlier. Hmm...

That is small magnitude, like less than 3.0, but still...something's rumbling under there...