reply to post by kno22
Kno22, I am very sorry. I saw it briefly but was distracted by the video and went off from there.
One of the videos showed exposed hard rock beds possibly faulted or lava beds (various geological reasons). This would confirm threads I have read on
the possibility of ancient volcano. I have replied to Skat on 16-10-2010 @05:49am.
StealthyKat, the faulted (and possibly lava beds) were formed millions of years ago. For lava to be extruded from a volcano, there has to be an
eruption (either violent or the less violent continuous flow type). At the moment I have not seen any seismic data/ sections or heard of reported
seismic activities to suggest active volcanic activities. The exposed rock outcrops is the first I have seen and it does make geological sense now
what is happening here. But for hot lava volcanic activities (real magma lava), I think the USGS would have been alerting us already (hope I am right
on this). But the seismic geophone (seismic reader you called it) evidence is intriguing. If BP is planting "seabed geophones" on the seabed, then I
would really think we are in very serious trouble for BP to be monitoring for seismic activities here. From what I had read, the Gulf is supposed to
be dormant and not tectonically active. I am not saying it isn't since we cannot be sure from the blurred picture or it could be just a piece or part
of the "grouting equipment" left in place.
The existence of Magma Volcano is a very significant fact to the Macondo Blowout and continuing oil spill into the gulf. When molten magma forced its
way up through the overlying older rock formations, it breaks (or cracks) the formations and by its high temperature heats up and cooled of the rocks
at the vicnity of the contact. Besides thermally altering the contact zone, the fast cooling (in geological terms) also produced fractures. These
cracks (faults, fractures and micro-fractures) are very similar to the often-quoted Hydraulic Fracturing / Hydrofracking that has recently been used
to improve water, oil and gas flows into the wells. Because these do not conform to the horizontally layered requirement for seismic imaging (a
fundamental fallacy) highly fractured rock formation are not easily detected in the seismic sections. Professional geologists relying 100% on the
seismic interpretation often missed out these highly faulted gas-saturated zones which I called it Gas-Saturated Weak Sub-Formation (GWSF) at the
upper formation level. (okay enough of this technical stuff).
Mud volcanoes as the name implies extrude mud (a slurry of clay, debris, water and gas). There is again another popular fundamental misconception –
that mud (in its slurry form) could be liquefied from very high pressure deformation at depths (thousands of feet below seabed) and forced (squeeze)
into the seafloor. Unlike molten magma, these mud slurries cannot be that hot and therefore lose their liquidity very fast. My paper in prep to the
geological /scientific journal gives the technical evidence to support this. The principal agent is Gas from the deep reservoirs. Gas is mobile
enough to seep through these leaking faults and fractures to the near surface.
In their migration pathways, the gas mixes with water to form an even more potent corrosive fluid. Shale and other argillaceous formation cannot
withstand water and are easily eroded. So now this mud slurry of water, gas and clay flow out or eject through periodic explosions. In the latter, the
near-surface vents are blocked every now and then; pressures built up until it is sufficient to blow. Very similar to what I had been discussing on
the ROV videos.
So I think the recent Biloxi twin volcanoes and the Macondo Mole hill (as I termed it) could have started out as magma volcano or salt dome (different
types) in ancient times (geological past) and continue to spew out mud slurry when the magma volcanic activities ceased. That’s why the hill-cones
are smaller and more gentle than true volcanic structures. There might have been periodic oil or asphalt seepage through these “volcanic or salt
induced pathways”. Hence some samples of asphalt as reported in recent journals are not surprising.
It is this “broken faulted geology” that is so devastating to the BP’s oil spill. BP knew and therefore formed the conclusion at the very start
of the disaster that they had “accidentally unleashed an uncontrollable giant dragon from the deep”.
So my often used phrase “if they could not lick it then they had to fake it”. Apologise if it sounds offensive but that is the truth. It
explains the many illogical recovery actions by BP today.
edit on 21-10-2010 by BK Lim because: (no reason given)
edit on 21-10-2010 by BK Lim because: (no reason given)