NEWS: Mysterious Outbreak Of Mud And Gas Geysers In Oklahoma Has Officials Puzzled.

Most likely unrelated but there was a breach at a Missouri hydroelectric dam CNN Story. Story says they have no idea why it happened. Rain wasn't a factor. Reflecting on Valhall's comment about the train derailment could this indicate some subtle shifts in that region??

I didn't have time to look at the video, but the pictures looked like the start of an Artesian well to me. As far as what causes an Artesian well, it was explained to me that it is just water being pushed to the surface by a pressure differential. The chemical smell might be caused by the water being contaminated by the natural oil of the area or one of the disposal wells.

Originally posted by jtma508
Most likely unrelated but there was a breach at a Missouri hydroelectric dam CNN Story. Story says they have no idea why it happened. Rain wasn't a factor. Reflecting on Valhall's comment about the train derailment could this indicate some subtle shifts in that region??

Wonder if this has anything to do with that. mapquest shows 130 mile driving distance but that is a VERY circuitous route. The straight-line distance would be much less.

2005/12/14 05:40:4.49 M:1.9 X:-89.50 Y:36.73 Z:15.49 N:49 D:3 R:0.10
G:55 Q:A

A very small earthquake occurred Tue Dec 13, 2005 about 23:40:04 CST
(Dec 14, 2005 05:40:04 GMT). The event was 4.10 km ( 2.55 mi) west
of Selkirk, MO (New Madrid). The magnitude was 1.9.


Origin Time: 2005/12/14 05:40:04.49
Magnitude: 1.9
Hypocenter: 36.73 deg latitude -89.50 deg longitude
Depth: 15.49 km
Number Picks: 49
Closest Station: 3 km
RMS: 0.10 sec
Gap: 55 deg
Quality: A


Just got through visiting with a reservoir engineer from one of the majors who has been up here in Indian Territory for the past week on some other business. He's been keeping up with this geyser situation. He stated that it sounded like there was a slanting gas formation that the gas could be coming from an extremely deep location and then traveling along the formation that eventually breaks out to surface. BUT - he hadn't heard about the smell until I was talking to him. When I told him about the smell he said - and I quote as best I can - "that rules out natural gas".

And that's exactly what I think as well. I don't think you can reconcile the Benzene/Toluene smell with this being natural gas.

Did anybody link to this article? They are trying to blame a Chesapeake Oil Co. well...but I don't think that's it. This is still double-darnit weird.

newsok.com.../main

That's the front page article today in The Daily Oklahoman. Here are some key quotes:

"We have drilled thousands of wells in Oklahoma and have never had an occurrence like this before," said Tom Price, Chesapeake's executive vice president of corporate development. "We cannot rule it out as the cause, but we certainly are not prepared to say that manifestations of gas located as near as one and a half miles away or as far as 12 miles away have come from that well in Kingfisher County."

"We have ruled out all the probably scenarios and are moving down the list into the improbables," commission spokesman Matt Skinner said. "Our people are saying they have never seen anything quite like this before."

Val...
I have said it before... but this might be a direct result of humanities carelessness...

Oklahoma is a sponge, and we have many drill holes everywhere... and many of the former wells become salt water dumps, or other pollution dumps...

I once saw an unmarked/untagged old tanker truck on a rural backroad... it was leaking some fluid out of a hose off the side... I reported this to the local police (in Langston) and was told that they often have illegal dumpers of toxic substances, and they use unmarked older trucks...

people need to understand that just because you bury something... doesn't mean you can forget it. rather it becomes a permanent contaminant of the soil, and eventually us...

I worry that these geysers are a result of an illegal dump site that has had a aquifer leak into it, or gas leak into it...(from the local drilling) benzene and tolumine don't occur naturally do they? but they could sure be a leftover from some manufacturer...

They used to just dump toxic waste off at the states highway board, in the form of "free barrels" to use as roadside trash containers... the contractors for the highway board would simply dump them out back in the creek...

but ever since the oil drum cleaning center became a superfund site, they no longer accept full oil drums.
I dont mean to go off topic here, just wanted to point out the high possibility of it being a toxic dump that has leaked out...
perhaps causing a chemical reaction that causes a buildup of gas?


[edit on 14-12-2005 by LazarusTheLong]

Originally posted by Valhall

And that's exactly what I think as well. I don't think you can reconcile the Benzene/Toluene smell with this being natural gas.

I have yet to be able to find anyone who's said anything about either benzene or toluene...where can i read about that?
I have read, though, about the studies of the composition of the gas arising being a majority Methane, which would be natural gas.

Originally posted by alphabetaone
According to geologists tests on the scene, the gases are:
93% Methane, with the remaining 7% being a combination of Ethane, Propane, and Nitrogen.

Some info on Methane...
Principal methane sources are
Outgassing from earth's mantle through mud volcanoes.
Mud volcanoes are often associated with petroleum deposits and tectonic subduction zones and orogenic belts.
Mud volcanoes are often associated with lava volcanoes, and the typical relationship is that where they are close, the mud volcanoes emit incombustible gases, while the ones further away emit methane. Origin of gases (methane, helium) and hydrocarbons emitted from mud volcanoes probably is related in connection through deep faults to earth's mantle.
60% of emissions are from sources affected by humans.Another interesting bit of info is if it's infact mostly methane...


Methane is the main gas that is released by mud volcanoes, eventually accompanied by helium, nitrogen and brines with bromine, iodine and liquid bitumen. Methane displacement at great depths may be a cause of earthquakes.



So in a nutshell if these are not some fault of man it's quite possible that there is some kind of mud volcano or lava volcano underneath Kingfisher.
One way to find out is to go to one of these geysers and throw a lit match at it...Mud volcanos emit incombustible gases while others emit methane
I did however learn something else today..Animal flatulation accounts for 17% of global methane emissions. A single cow is estimated to produce 600 litres of methane every day

methane link 1

Originally posted by alphabetaone

I have yet to be able to find anyone who's said anything about either benzene or toluene...where can i read about that?
I have read, though, about the studies of the composition of the gas arising being a majority Methane, which would be natural gas.

Methane doesn't smell like "modeling glue". Benzene and Toluene do.

[edit on 12-14-2005 by Valhall]

Now let's do Benzene and Toluene

Benzene

Benzene is found in the air from emissions from burning coal and oil, gasoline service stations, and motor vehicle exhaust. Acute (short-term) inhalation exposure of humans to benzene may cause drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, as well as eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation, and, at high levels, unconsciousness. Chronic (long-term) inhalation exposure has caused various disorders in the blood, including reduced numbers of red blood cells and aplastic anemia, in occupational settings. Reproductive effects have been reported for women exposed by inhalation to high levels, and adverse effects on the developing fetus have been observed in animal tests. Increased incidence of leukemia (cancer of the tissues that form white blood cells) have been observed in humans occupationally exposed to benzene. EPA has classified benzene as a Group A, human carcinogen.


Toluene
Toluene occurs naturally at low levels in crude oil and is usually produced in the processes of making gasoline via a catalytic reformer, in an ethylene cracker or making coke from coal. Final separation (either via distillation or solvent extraction) takes place in a BTX plant.

The name toluene was derived from the older name toluol that refers to tolu balsam, an aromatic extract from the tropical American tree Myroxylon balsamum, from which it was first isolated. It was originally named by Jöns Jakob Berzelius.

Edit for more info

[edit on 14-12-2005 by Simon_Boudreaux]

Originally posted by Valhall

Methane doesn't smell like "modeling glue". Benzene and Toluene do.

[edit on 12-14-2005 by Valhall]

you're absolutely right, but ive been looking for someplace in one of the articles where someone had said that they smelled benzene or toluene, i just cant. I was hoping you could point me in the right directionon that.

Originally posted by alphabetaone

Gas Analysis

The word released on the gas analysis is that it is 93% methane, the other seven per cent being ethane, propane, and nitrogen.

newsok.com...

And although unlikely they are checking into a gas well approixmately 12 miles from the geyser outbreak.

I don't know how they are going to reconcile this chemical compostion with the smell of "modeling glue". But I also don't know when the sample was taken - it could have been in the past couple of days. And I don't know if the gases no longer smell like modeling glue.

[edit on 12-15-2005 by Valhall]

Originally posted by Valhall

Originally posted by alphabetaone

Originally posted by Valhall

[....]

I don't know how they are going to reconcile this chemical compostion with the smell of "modeling glue". But I also don't know when the sample was taken - it could have been in the past couple of days. And I don't know if the gases no longer smell like modeling glue.

i sorta looked around,
www.earthfiles.com/ (Linda Morton Howe site)
www.newsday.com/
www.wffa.com/

they all are vague on the gas, i.e. part methane, or un-refined natural gas...etc etc

then at; (http

//okcitykid.bravejournal.com
sourced this story by local The Enid News and Eagle
which has pics of geysers, & Mr Loftis, Kingfisher emergency coordinator

mostly the reporter quoted the 'official'; Matt Skinner,
Oklahoma Corporation Commission, public information manager.

at the near bottom of the article, there is mention made of the gas
contaminating the individual's private water wells;
(and the report switches from the 'official' to unidentified county officials)

or pretty near

...Authorities have asked those who smell the gas near their homes to
voluntarily evacuate.

Although county officials are telling residents to check well sites for gas, which smells like modeling glue or rubber cement, Kingfisher's water supply is safe.

~~~The way i read the comments in the article - is like this -
some county employees (remember gas & oil wells are fairly ubiquitious)
in an off-the-cuff remark, made mention that when a home owner is
checking around their water wells,
and have not noticed an obvious geyser of mud & gas popping up,
then kinda keep your nose & smell alerted to un-common odors =
->> which might smell like modeling glue or rubber cement

December 15, 2005 Update - Today, more methane gas bubbling has spread south toward Okarche. Yesterday, four more gas eruptions in a wheat field were discovered about two miles from the city limits of Kingfisher, Oklahoma. The unprecedented - and so far, uncontrolled - eruptions of methane, water and mud on a 12-mile-long stretch of Winter Camp Creek and surrounding fields continues to frustrate authorities. Chesapeake Energy Corp., an independent oil and gas exploration company, was drilling on December 9, about eight miles from where the first gas and mud eruptions were reported in Section 2 of Kingfisher County. Today, Chesapeake said it would start flaring off some of the escaping gas and try to capture and sell more of it. What no one knows is whether this will reduce the underground pressure of the gas enough to slow down, or stop, the continuing gas eruptions that have occurred since the morning of December 9. Geologists are trying to figure out what has happened and what can be done to control the potentially explosive situation.

..Capture and sell more of it

Does anyone know how they would go about capturing it?Capping the geysers maybe?But wouldn't that increase pressure?
Anyone with more knowledge of how they would do this ?

[edit on 17-12-2005 by Simon_Boudreaux]

Duh nevermind

KOTV

State experts believe a well drilled by Chesapeake Energy Corp. 12 miles west of Okarche hit a major flow of natural gas Dec. 9 and that the gas then escaped out the side of the hole and traveled, possibly through an underground fissure or fault line, several miles before surfacing along Winter Camp Creek.

Originally posted by Simon_Boudreaux
Duh nevermind

KOTV

State experts believe a well drilled by Chesapeake Energy Corp. 12 miles west of Okarche hit a major flow of natural gas Dec. 9 and that the gas then escaped out the side of the hole and traveled, possibly through an underground fissure or fault line, several miles before surfacing along Winter Camp Creek.

If that was true it would be happening more often in other rigs. In this same rig I am at right now we drilled to a fault line, at first we didn't know as the geologist forgot to tell us, and our bit almost drilled into it, we started losing mud like crazy, at first we thought that there was something wrong with the pumps, but then the geologist remembered about the faultline. Any gas that was down there would have escaped through that faultline, and it would have come up somewhere else if this was even possible, yet it didn't.

I find this explanation rather strange, and that the gas came up in an area that large? I don't know....it sounds implausible.

All the gas should have come out the first area where it found a path of least resistance to the surface, yet it extended and came out at about the same time all over a 13 mile area?.....


[edit on 17-12-2005 by Muaddib]

Muaddib,

I absolutely agree with you on all points. For the past three years my work has been focused in correcting lost circulation problems for you drillers. So it's not like I don't understand the dynamics of what occurs when you hit a low frac gradient zone, a low pore pressure permeable zone, or a naturally fractured zone. You and I might be proven absolutely wrong, and that this is one of those really wildly weird rare moments when a high-pressure, deep gas zone can bubble crap to the surface over a 13 mile stretch, but it sure is hard to believe right now, isn't it?

And I still contend that the "modeling glue" smell is very problematic if we want to attribute this to natural gas.

With all due respect..........high pressure hazardous waste injection wells in the general area "may" have ruptured...............hence the "Ben and Tol" smell of "superglue".................

without much thought,I would say that maybe they are overusing the aquifers,where is the weight of the land above supposed to go but down?,forcing mud and gas up to the surface through any opening or weakness in or near the surface...who knows , get a shovel and find out , anyone live near the area?...dig it ?...

Originally posted by thermopolis
With all due respect..........high pressure hazardous waste injection wells in the general area "may" have ruptured...............hence the "Ben and Tol" smell of "superglue".................

Well, thanks for the respect, but I understand that already. doh The point that is hard to grasp right now is the magnitude of "high-pressure" AND VOLUME involved in this. That's what I'm waiting to see the findings on.

Valhall & Mauddib I find this damn weird, and if you guys with your relevant experience and knowledge do too well that’s enough for me.

My hunch is something deep driving this which being magma led might explain for the lack of seismological clues too. If that was the case maybe the strange smell associated with it is caused by the steam/gas being polluted closer to the surface as it rises?... Very puzzling, will be watching this closely. Interesting stuff when nature unfolds in front of us in ways we don’t understand.

PS guys there was a brilliant Radio Documentary with geologist’s, riggers meteorologists, Biologists about Katrina and Oil supply, pollution stuff from Idaho Uni and the rigs damaged in the gulf, anyhow well worth the listen:

Click Here BBC and Listen again on Page

Quick though new programme every week.

Good Post
MischeviouslyImaginingAnNew12MileMagmaLakeForming

Regards

Elf