Mud volcano
Most people think of lava flowing from a volcano, but in Sidoarjo, Indonesia, you’ll find the world’s biggest mud volcano. It was created by an explosion at a gas well drilled by an energy company, although company officials claim that an earthquake 155 miles away actually provoked the problem. There are more than 1,000 mud volcanoes around the world, but this Indonesian example is likely the only one caused by human activity.
It all started on 28 May 2006, when a borehole was drilled to nearly 3,000 metres. This caused water, steam and gas to erupt from the ground nearby. The next day, water, steam and mud began to emerge again, and it’s been there ever since. It’s officially called Lumpur Lapindo, and is also commonly called the Lusi volcano.
Initially, the volcano erupted with 180,000 cubic metres of mud per day, but by 2011 that figure had reduced to 10,000 daily cubic metres. It might be slowing down, but the damage has already been done: 30,000 people had to be evacuated from the area, a dozen villages and more than 10,000 homes were destroyed, and metal from the mud flow has contaminated nearby rivers.