Monday,
February 11, 2013
6:00 - 7:30 pm
Pellissippi
State Technical Community College
10915 Hardin
Valley Road, Knoxville
J.L Goins Administration
Building,
Cafeteria Annex
FEBRUARY
PRESENTATION
The Disaster at Jefferson Island
Human induced collapse and subsequent flooding of the
Jefferson Island, Louisiana salt mine.
Lessons for future underground storage and disposal.
By
R. C. (Dick) Merrill
Petroleum Consultant and Aviation Archeologist
Chuckey, Knoxville
Abstract
One of the unique features of
Gulf Coast geology is the many salt domes that are common both in
the onshore portions of Texas and Louisiana as well as under the
Gulf of Mexico out and beyond the continental slope. These domes
form due to the rapid and heavy loading of Tertiary sediments,
onto the lower density, Jurassic Louann salt. Salt domes have
been exploited for the hydrocarbons trapped around their
periphery since the early 20th century. However they have been
mined for salt, sulfur and other minerals since the Civil war.
Starting in the second half of the 20th century salt domes have
been increasing used for storage of hydrocarbons and various
industrial wastes including radioactive waste. Several of these
storage, mining and disposal operations have resulted in collapse
of the overlying surface.
The Jefferson Island salt dome, located 9 miles west of New
Iberia, Louisiana lies under Lake Peignoir. Lake Peignoir covers
1,100 acres with an average depth of 3 feet. The lake was formed
by subsidence of the coastal marsh over the Jefferson Island salt
dome. The salt dome contained an extensive multi-level salt mine
operated by the Diamond Salt Company. The dome is also ringed by
oil and gas accumulations.
On the morning of November 20, 1980, at about 6:00 AM, a Texaco
operated drilling rig, drilling from a barge located in the
middle of Lake Peignoir found the drill pipe stuck and the crew
encountered other drilling anomalies. The drilling barge, which
was sitting on the lake bottom, began to shift and the drilling
crew abandoned the rig. At about the same time, miners working in
the salt mine under the lake saw water pouring into the mine.
Within hours the entire lake had drained, like a giant bathtub,
into the mine along with several thousand cubic yards of Lake
Bottom sediment forming a crater or sinkhole of about 160 acres
and over 100 feet deep. As the water rushed into this sinkhole it
swept away the drilling rig, a tug boat, 10 barges, a house
trailer and about 70 acres of adjoining land. Amazingly, no lives
were lost.
A non-published video will be shown at the presentation but to
peak your interest, visit: http://flyingcuttlefish.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/1986-sinkhole-disaster/.
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