Louisiana probes cause of massive bayou sinkhole

[Hum]

(CNN) -- Louisiana officials are investigating whether an underground salt cavern may be responsible for a large sinkhole that has swallowed 100-foot-tall cypress trees and prompted evacuations in a southern Louisiana bayou.

The state's Department of Natural Resources ordered Texas Brine Company, which mines the cavern, to drill a well into the cavern to see whether it caused the dark gray slurry-filled hole nearby.

Measurements taken Monday showed the sinkhole measures 324 feet in diameter and is 50 feet deep, but in one corner it goes down 422 feet, said John Boudreaux, director of the Office of Homeland Security in Assumption Parish, about 30 miles south of Baton Rouge.

Assumption Parish police said Thursday the sinkhole has since grown another 10 to 20 feet.

The sinkhole appeared August 3, more than two months after local residents started noticing bubbles in the water. The bubbles grew in number and frequency, and in some spots they made the bayou look like a boiling crawfish pot, said Dennis Landry, who owns guest cabins about half a mile from the hole.

Assumption Parish police ordered the evacuation of all residents in the area, though Landry said it's not a forced evacuation so he and his wife have decided to stay.

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[Southern Patriot]

Not surprised. A lot of people don't realize this, but southern Louisiana sits on top of a bunch of salt domes.

[rfirth]

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Yes they do, roadwarrior. I was born and raised there. I heard about it quite a few times from my dad, who was an oilfield pumper for 15 years. He was always having to go out to a specific place in the woods there that everyone called the "salt-flats", which would be a huge area in the woods, where no vegetation would ever grow, sort of like a very small desert, but in just a small limited area, to pump out salt-water, which they would store in huge tank batteries that eventually would get picked up by an 18-wheeler/water truck. Anyway, the oilfield companies at the time had their geologists come out and take core samples from the so-called "salt-flats", where they discovered a fairly decent sized salt deposit not too far under the ground. As a kid, we used to take 3 and 4 wheel atv's out there and have a blast! :D

[Hum]

I wonder if there are more sink holes now, or is there just more news coverage.

If there is an increase, does it possibly mean the large land masses will soon sink ?

Just wondering ....

[Southern Patriot]

Yes they do, roadwarrior. I was born and raised there. I heard about it quite a few times from my dad, who was an oilfield pumper for 15 years. He was always having to go out to a specific place in the woods there that everyone called the "salt-flats", which would be a huge area in the woods, where no vegetation would ever grow, sort of like a very small desert, but in just a small limited area, to pump out salt-water, which they would store in huge tank batteries that eventually would get picked up by an 18-wheeler/water truck. Anyway, the oilfield companies at the time had their geologists come out and take core samples from the so-called "salt-flats", where they discovered a fairly decent sized salt deposit not too far under the ground. As a kid, we used to take 3 and 4 wheel atv's out there and have a blast! :D

There are quite a few salt domes in Mississippi as well (one was used for a nuclear bomb test back in the 60s). My point was that most people outside the Gulf Coast area probably don't even know much about them. I would have loved to have a chance to ride a 4 wheeler on one of those though! Sounds fun. Just a lot of woods and a few fields around where I grew up in southeast Mississippi. However, people all over the world know of one product directly related to the salt domes in Louisiana, mostly without even realizing the connection (unless they've seen the Modern Marvels episode about salt). Of course, I'm talking about Tabasco sauce.

[remixedcat]

Imma let you finish but the sinkhole in the shoney's parking lot is the best sinkhole of all time!

[Growled Member]

Is any of this caused by our pumping oil out of the ground?

[Colin McGregor]

Is any of this caused by our pumping oil out of the ground?

its what happens when you divide by 0

[Southern Patriot]

Is any of this caused by our pumping oil out of the ground?

Well, indirectly, yes. Salt domes are quite often partially hollowed out and used for the storage of petroleum. In fact, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is stored in them in several locations along the Gulf Coast (two in Texas, two in Louisiana, and one possibly in Mississippi in the near future). The article says the one related to this sinkhole is being used for mining brine, but that there are natural gas pipelines in the area as well.