National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Photo: "Mud Volcano" in Indonesia Caused by Gas Exploration, Study Says


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An Indonesian man hauls a mattress past a sign reading "Be Careful, deep mud" on July 8, 2006. His home—and hundreds of others—were flooded by mud from a "mud volcano" on the island of Java.

A new research report says that the upwelling, which has continued for eight months with no sign of abating, was caused by an exploratory gas well that punched through a pressurized layer of rock.

Photograph by Associated Press/Trisnadi