Since June last year, a Javanese village has been subjected to a belching mud volcano producing 130,000 cubic metres of toxic mud a day. Thought to have been caused by gas exploration rupturing a pressurised aquifer underground, the mud flow has so far submerged 12 villages and displaced 15,000 people, and shows no sign of being ready to abate.
Now, the New York Times reveals, a showdown is looming. Local geologists are attempting to stem the flow by dropping large concrete balls – 400 of them, so far – into the gloop. But, explains a soldier guarding the site,
“The mud explosion happened because the spirits in the crater are angry. The insertion of the balls will only spark more anger. The soothsayers have already said there will be a new and much bigger burst. I believe this.”
A UK-based geologist who has visited the site is also sceptical of the concrete balls, albeit for different reasons: “The underground plumbing of a mud volcano, I don’t think, is going to be that simple”. The NYT reports rather sadly that he also “dismissed the notion that some of them could be ejected like cannonballs.”
