Conference proceeding
Origin of fluids and eruption dynamics at LUSI mud volcano (East Java, Indonesia)
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Vol.2013
Dec 2013
Abstract
The LUSI mud volcano near Sidoarjo in East Java (Indonesia) has been erupting mud, water and gases since May 2006. It is the most recent manifestation of mud volcanism in the Sunda back-arc region, part of a larger cluster of a dozen mud volcanoes scattered across East Java and Madura. LUSI discharged as much as 180,000 cubic meters of mud per day at the peak of its activity, destroyed thousands of homes, and displaced tens of thousands of people. The erupted fluids are a mixture of water, clays, and other minerals at near-boiling temperatures, accompanied by the bursting of gas bubbles on average every 1-3 minutes, which trigger mud fountains approximately 20 m in height. We have taken a multi-disciplinary approach to assess both the fluid provenance and eruption behavior at this complex and evolving mud volcano, by using a combination of absorption infrared spectrometry of the gases, X-Ray diffraction of the solid fraction, major and trace element analyses of solids and dissolved ions in liquids, and isotopic analyses of separated water (D/H and (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr). Similar analyses of other regional fluid sources (hot springs, surface waters, sea water, and relict mud volcanoes) were also carried out for comparison. From open path FTIR measurements, we determine that the gases released during explosions at LUSI consist of 98% water vapor, 1.5% carbon dioxide, and 0.5% methane, with corresponding fluxes of 2,300 t/yr of CH (sub 4) , 30,000 t/yr of CO (sub 2) and 800,000 t/yr of water vapor. The methane flux is two orders of magnitude larger than estimates for any other single mud volcano on Earth. By comparing the mineral composition of solids present in the mud to rock outcrops of the local stratigraphy, the solids can be traced with some certainty to the blue-gray clays of the Upper Kalibeng formation, found 1600-1800 m beneath the LUSI main vent. However, the water content and chemical composition of the liquid phase are more difficult to interpret. The LUSI fluids are compositionally distinct from all the other sources we measured to date, including some of the older mud volcanoes, suggesting that the underlying water source for LUSI is different. Our major and trace element data suggest the water and solids in the LUSI fluid may not originate from the same geologic formation, providing indirect evidence in support of more complex geophysical models of the eruption. Based on our oxygen and deuterium isotope data, the LUSI fluids reflect high-temperature water-rock interactions, and the isotopic composition of the water does not appear to have changed between 2006 and 2008, despite some evidence suggesting that the mass ratio of particles to water in the mud itself has changed since the eruption began.
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Details
- Title
- Origin of fluids and eruption dynamics at LUSI mud volcano (East Java, Indonesia)
- Creators
- Loyc Vanderkluysen - Arizona State UniversityH. E. HartnettAmanda B. ClarkeM. R. BurtonAnonymous
- Publication Details
- American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Vol.2013
- Conference
- American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (2013)
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Identifiers
- 991021015347204721