Lake Peigneur Drilling Accident
GeologyComments
Suppose the shore disappearance was actually a localized sinkhole effect rather than a general erosion of the coastline. Could the perception of the scale be skewed by the dramatic imagery of the rig sinking?
Who cares if the shore was just a localized sinkhole? The real absurdity is that they were using a map with the wrong coordinates. How do you mess up the location of a salt mine that badly?
This reminds me of the 1980s era of corporate negligence in resource extraction. If the shore collapse was localized, did the subsequent land surveys ever actually reconcile the lost acreage?
Even with the disaster, it is interesting that the operation to stop the flow using huge ice slurries actually worked. It shows a really impressive level of emergency engineering under extreme pressure.
I have to disagree with the idea that the shore disappearance was just a localized effect. In salt dome collapse, the subsidence is often systemic because the salt dissolves, creating a void that undermines the entire overhead strata.
The "giant drain" description is a common simplification. The actual mechanism was a breach into a pre-existing cavern, meaning the volume was already there waiting to be filled.
The technicality of the breach does not change the result, but it did lead to way stricter zoning laws for drilling near mines in Louisiana. It actually protected a lot of local properties from similar mishaps in the years that followed.
The article mentions the hole eventually reached a diameter of about 160 feet. It is also worth noting that the lake actually reversed its flow, turning a freshwater lake into a saltwater one.