Study finds Indonesia 'mud volcano' collapsing

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

JAKARTA (AFP) — An Indonesian "mud volcano" that has oozed sludge for two years is collapsing under its own weight, worsening an environmental disaster that has displaced thousands, a study said Wednesday.

Sudden collapses of up to three metres (9.8 feet) have been recorded at the centre of the volcano in East Java, the study by Durham University and the Bandung Institute of Technology found.

"Such sudden collapses could be the beginning of a caldera -- a large basin-shaped volcanic depression," the institute said in a statement, adding that the caldera could be as much as 146 metres deep.

"(Scientists) propose the subsidence is due to the weight of mud and collapse of rock strata due to the excavation of mud from beneath the surface," it said.

The...