Do you think putting huge concrete balls into a volcano will help stop dangerous mud flows?

Question

I personally don't think so. I think the whole thing is ridiculous!

If you disagree and think it will benefit the country with the volcano problem, please tell me why. I'm not an engineer or scientist (yet) so there may be a good reason why someone thinks that would work.

Answer 1

That is funny. There is not a volcano problem. It is called Planet Earth, Volcano's helped form it. The planet, as we understand it is a geothermal dependent working order.
If a flue or vent could be crammed up with rocks pebbles and sand, the molten lava would either build up so much pressure that an explosion of rocks,pebbles and sands, well that kinda explains it.
You cannot stop molten rock with the stuff that created the rock.
It is a Planet, we cannot save it, it is pretentious and arrogant to think that Humans have the ability to save a Planet.
There is not a volcano problem, there is not a volcano solution. Volcano's exist, volcano wants to erupt, it will.
Earthquake wants to happen, it will.
Tidal wave wants to make landfall, it has no choice, so it will.
What will work is when and if we learn to live with the planet and not just on the planet.
Live with it. not on it.

Answer 2

The mud flows or lahars that come off of a volcano are generally caused by the melting snow or ice cap that was sitting on the volcano’s top before it erupted. When the volcano erupts, the super heated gas exiting the volcano instantly melts the ice/snow. This large volume of water mixes with the ash that has been expelled from the volcano and also picks up more debris as it flows down the mountainside.

Because volcanic eruptions are the result of internal forces within the earth, and these eruptions are capable of lifting several square kilometers of the earth’s surface straight up into the air, we are talking about trying to contain the equivalence to a nuclear explosion. There is no way to contain these kinds of forces.

Answer 3

I am a geological engineer by training and would agree with you completely if I hadn't seen the article. I believe the "mud volcano" they were putting the concrete balls into were actually natural gas seeps and not related to volcanoes as we normally think of them. A million tons of concrete balls on Mt. St. Helens would have ended up in a billion bits of concrete so you are correct. I really question the wisdom of those concrete balls. It seems like it might actually make the pressure build and make things worse.

Answer 4

ROTFLMSFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only the Army Corp of Engineers could possibly come up with something quite this stupid ☺

Putting 'huge concrete balls' into a volcanoe isn't going to do anything to stop mud flow. But, if they get *real* lucky, they may blow out a side wall if the back pressure becomes great enough ☺


Doug

Answer 5

Aren't the balls there to divert the flows, rather than stop them ?

Otherwise surely it would similar to putting a giant cork into a volcano.

Answer 6

no. you can never control the flow of nature. that is why, we should not abuse it