Reports, filtering through from oceanologists and salvage workers in the region, state that the upper level strata of the ocean floor is succumbing to greater and greater pressure. That pressure is causing a huge expanse of the seabed-estimated by some as spreading over thousands of square miles surrounding the BP wellhead-to bulge. Some claim the seabed in the region has risen an astounding 30 feet.The fractured BP wellhead, site of the former Deepwater Horizon, has become the epicenter of frenetic attempts to quell the monstrous flow of methane.The subterranean methane is pressurized at 100,000 pounds psi. According to Matt Simmons, an oil industry expert, the methane pressure at the wellhead has now skyrocketed to a terrifying 40,000 pounds psi. Another well-respected expert, Dr. John Kessler of Texas A&M University has calculated that the ruptured well is spewing 60 percent oil and 40 percent methane. The normal methane amount that escapes from a compromised well is about 5 percent.More evidence? A huge gash on the ocean floor--like a ragged wound hundreds of feet long--has been reported by the NOAA research ship, Thomas Jefferson. Before the curtain of the government enforced news blackout again descended abruptly, scientists aboard the ship voiced their concerns that the widening rift may go down miles into the earth. That gash too is hemorrhaging oil and methane. It's 10 miles away from the BP epicenter. Other, new fissures, have been spotted as far as 30 miles distant.Measurements of the multiple oil plumes now appearing miles from the wellhead indicate that as much as a total of 124,000 barrels of oil are erupting into the Gulf waters daily-that's about 5,208,000 gallons of oil per day. Most disturbing of all: Methane levels in the water are now calculated as being almost one million times higher than normal. Mass death on the water If the methane bubble--a bubble that could be as big as 20 miles wide--erupts with titanic force from the seabed into the Gulf, every ship, drilling rig and structure within the region of the bubble will immediately sink. All the workers, engineers, Coast Guard personnel and marine biologists participating in the salvage operation will die instantly. Next, the ocean bottom will collapse, instantaneously displacing up to a trillion cubic feet of water or more and creating a towering supersonic tsunami annihilating everything along the coast and well inland. Like a thermonuclear blast, a high pressure atmospheric wave could precede the tidal wave flattening everything in its path before the water arrives. When the roaring tsunami does arrive it will scrub away all that is left.[7]
Mass death on the water
If the methane bubble--a bubble that could be as big as 20 miles wide--erupts with titanic force from the seabed into the Gulf, every ship, drilling rig and structure within the region of the bubble will immediately sink. All the workers, engineers, Coast Guard personnel and marine biologists participating in the salvage operation will die instantly.
Next, the ocean bottom will collapse, instantaneously displacing up to a trillion cubic feet of water or more and creating a towering supersonic tsunami annihilating everything along the coast and well inland. Like a thermonuclear blast, a high pressure atmospheric wave could precede the tidal wave flattening everything in its path before the water arrives.
When the roaring tsunami does arrive it will scrub away all that is left.[7]
lurid? nah... details, shmetails... would that wake enough folks up? nah...
lots of other gulfs.
this has been my fear since the beginning of this clusterfuck, and while it may well be futile, i hope europe tries to stop the oil entering the med. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
The one source that backs up the 'news' links to a random blog of no obvious authority.
Admittedly given the news blackout anything at all could be happening down there, including an invasion by Daleks. But I think a cracking sea floor and/or a rise of 30ft would have triggered a few sea quakes by now, and that doesn't seem to have happened.
I'd be more worried about Siberian clathrates than I would be about a methane explosion in the GOM.
I have seen articles about and posts from the Jefferson referenced, only to be unable to find anything in a search. This included references to a significant leak somewhere about 20 miles south of the Deepwater Horizon site. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
Oceanographer John Kessler analyzes methane levels from oil spill site
John Kessler, a chemical oceanographer in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University, is currently analyzing methane levels in water collected from seven miles to 500 meters from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. Preliminary results, he says, point to high concentrations of the gas. "Methane levels ranged from 10,000 to nearly 1 million times higher in some spots than normal concentration," Kessler said. The 10-day cruise, which was funded by a National Science Foundation Rapid Response grant, returned June 21 with nearly 1 million data points gathered. Since that time, he and his colleagues have been analyzing the results in the shore-based lab at Texas A&M.
John Kessler, a chemical oceanographer in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University, is currently analyzing methane levels in water collected from seven miles to 500 meters from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead.
Preliminary results, he says, point to high concentrations of the gas. "Methane levels ranged from 10,000 to nearly 1 million times higher in some spots than normal concentration," Kessler said.
The 10-day cruise, which was funded by a National Science Foundation Rapid Response grant, returned June 21 with nearly 1 million data points gathered. Since that time, he and his colleagues have been analyzing the results in the shore-based lab at Texas A&M.
why, are they a million times normal too?
thanks for easing my concerns, :( ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
TBG implies that the amount of methane trapped in the Siberian permafrost easily exceeds that in the Gulf of Mexico, and I think I agree (based on no data :-) with his impression. By laying out pros and cons we risk inducing people to join the debate, and losing control of a process that only we fully understand. - Alan Greenspan
They seem to be geysering away quite nicely.
