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| The Lusi mud volcano can be seen from space! |
Scientists say the eruption of the Lusi mud volcano in Indonesia should be all but over by the end of the decade - much sooner than previous estimates.
The assessment is based on satellite data that records the rate at which the ground is changing in response to the material spewing up on to the surface. Researchers say the system is losing pressure rapidly.
The eruption, which began in the Porong subdistrict of Sidoarjo in East Java in 2006, is the largest of its kind. Lusi is thought to have been triggered by a drilling operation that went wrong.
An expert panel convened at a meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in Cape Town in 2008 concluded that drilling fluid used to maintain pressure in the well was too dense for the strength of the surrounding rock. The resulting blow-out, or "kick", re-activated old faults, creating new pathways for water and sediment to rise up to the surface.
