Drilling Hits an Active Magma Chamber In Hawaii 251
Smivs writes "The BBC are reporting that drillers looking for geothermal energy in Hawaii have inadvertently put a well right into a magma chamber.
Molten rock pushed back up the borehole several meters before solidifying, making it perfectly safe to study. Magma specialist Bruce Marsh says it will allow scientists to observe directly how granites are made. 'This is unprecedented; this is the first time a magma has been found in its natural habitat,' the Johns Hopkins University professor told BBC News. 'Before, all we had to deal with were lava flows; but they are the end of a magma's life. They're lying there on the surface, they've de-gassed. It's not the natural habitat.' It is hoped the site can now become a laboratory, with a series of cores drilled around the chamber to better characterise the crystallisation changes occurring in the rock as it loses temperature."
Re:I'd rather be... (Score:5, Funny)
Odd misreading... (Score:5, Funny)
It's a gusher!! (Score:5, Funny)
All that I can picture is the classic 19th century drill tower with glowing magma spraying from the top, and lava-coated workmen running around cheering "It's a gusher!!"
Actually, in my mind, the workmen look a lot like Homer Simpson ...
The dream realised (Score:5, Funny)
Dare to dream, geologists. Dare to dream.
I bet that got interesting... (Score:4, Funny)
When his gauges pegged at the upper limits and his torquemeter went to zero when he breached the wall of the chamber.
Re:It's a gusher!! (Score:2, Funny)
Actually, in my mind, the workmen look a lot like Homer Simpson ...
In my mind, they look a lot more like Freddy Krueger.
Re:I bet that got interesting... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Odd misreading... (Score:1, Funny)
I think the tentacle demons would be a bit harder to keep in the pit than magma.
Re:The dream realised (Score:3, Funny)
A man goes into a restaurant, sits down and starts reading the menu. The menu says:
Broiled Accountant $5.95 per plate
Fried Engineer $7.95 per plate
Toasted Teacher $7.95 per plate
Grilled Geologist $25.95 per plate
The man calls a waiter over and asks "Hey, why does the Grilled Geologist cost so much more?"
The waiter says, " Are you kidding? Do you know how hard it is to clean one of them?!?!"
What a lode of fuchsite.
Quote of the year (Score:5, Funny)
This is unprecedented; this is the first time a magma has been found in its natural habitat
Is this professor also known as David Attenborough?
Perfectly Safe? (Score:5, Funny)
Molten rock pushed back up the borehole several meters before solidifying, making it perfectly safe to study.
I don't think that phrase means what you think it means...
Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it (Score:2, Funny)
Warning!
This is a troll recipe! I mixed it up and put it in my oven, and what came out? Tubgirl!
Re:They found it (Score:3, Funny)
well if they had some space age, heat resistant pipes to shove down there into the magma, then run some liquid through the pipes to transmit the heat to a steamer, we'd have delicious vegetables in no time. i mean geothermal power. large scale geothermal.
it'd be pricey to make the first one, but it could be a big player in renewable energy. and unlike solar panels and wind mills which are like socialized energy because everyone controls the production, this could be a major central project for a greedy corporation.
then before you know it they drill to deep and there's a balrog running the streets.
Re:Perfectly safe? (Score:5, Funny)
Molten rock pushed back up the borehole several meters before solidifying, making it perfectly safe to study
I'm sure they're leaving out their initial observations which probably went something like: "OH FUCK!! RUN! ok.. i think it stopped.. let's change our underwear then we'll send the new guy over to check it out"
Re:They found it (Score:5, Funny)
I believe those pipes would need to be made from an alloy known as 'unobtainium'.
Ooops (Score:4, Funny)
Dear Boss:
We had a tragic accident today. We were drilling for heat - well the good news is we found it. Lots of it. The bad news is that we destroyed a $50,000 drill bit and pipe.
Please don't fire me.
No pun intended.
Your faithful employee, and gracious servant, who hopes you will come to my home for Christmas dinner. Or any other dinner you desire...
John Doe
Re:I bet that got interesting... (Score:5, Funny)
Interesting might be an understatement. More like "Oh Shit!" You know, those two words you never want to hear your bomb technician, drill operator, or gynecologist exclaim.
how magmanimous of you (Score:5, Funny)
Drill, baby, dr--AAAAUGH! It burns!
Re:Odd misreading... (Score:3, Funny)
Pfft... throw in a schoolgirl in a sailor suit every month and everyone's happy.
Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it (Score:1, Funny)
what license is this recipe released under? I can't eat GPL food because of the closed-source toilet at work :/
Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it (Score:1, Funny)
Don't worry, you're safe as long as you don't distribute your derivative work.
Re:It's a gusher!! (Score:5, Funny)
In my mind, there's one workwoman, she's played by Natalie Portman, and the lava is actually hot grits.
Re:They found it (Score:4, Funny)
No shit, I'm wondering how exactly it was "inadvertent" to drill into liquid hot mag-ma when you're drilling toward the hottest thing you can find on a volcanic island.
Re:They found it (Score:5, Funny)
Every time I try to lay pipe near/inside volcanoes, she tells me "not tonight, I have a headache."
Re:Hot Drill Bit (Score:5, Funny)
I'm fairly certain you're wrong in your reasoning, but I also am not an expert on the subject so I could be wrong as well.
You're an old hand here at Slashdot, aren't you. ;-)
Re:It's a gusher!! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Perfectly safe? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sure they're leaving out their initial observations which probably went something like: "OH FUCK!! RUN! ok.. i think it stopped.. let's change our underwear then we'll send the new guy over to check it out"
"Oh yes, of course it's perfectly safe, Ensign Burke. Nothing to worry about. Now go on over there and examine the bore hole. Oh but first put on this official red shirt signifying your position on our team."
Re:I bet that got interesting... (Score:2, Funny)
or gynecologist
Slashdot readers typically don't need to worry about that one...
Re:Hot Drill Bit (Score:5, Funny)
I have worked in economic geology as a summer student when I was at university, and I can vouch for the fact that hollow rotary drills are in common use. The drill core (the part of the rock that goes in the hollow centre) is the whole purpose of drilling the hole in the earth.
The drill is a gasoline or diesel engine, and the drill bit is a piecewise continuous long hollow tube. The drill bit is quite short, and the business end is a ring of industrial diamonds. The whole tube spins, and water is used to carry away the cuttings. To remove the core, the whole nine yards gets pulled up, and the drill core comes with it. The drill core is put in boxes, with depth markings on it.
The last (optional) step is for the drill operator to piss on the drill core. When the geologist opens the box of drill core, the first thing he does is lick the rock, because you can see the colour variations in wet rock a lot easier than in dry rock.
It seems to me that if you drilled into some magma with one of these diamond drills, you would run the risk of the whole earth collapsing like a balloon thththpththpthpthpthtpp. :)
Re:Hot Drill Bit (Score:3, Funny)
The last (optional) step is for the drill operator to piss on the drill core. When the geologist opens the box of drill core, the first thing he does is lick the rock, because you can see the colour variations in wet rock a lot easier than in dry rock.
And then the geologist says, "Someone's been eating asparagus!"
Nice Imagery (Score:1, Funny)
They're lying there on the surface, they've de-gassed
Re:Hot Drill Bit (Score:2, Funny)
"Nothing amazing, a 2 or 3 in diameter tube of cooled magma sits in your rod."
I don't think amazing fits, but that would sure suck ass!
Re:bake him some cookies he'll get over it (Score:2, Funny)
This is apparently the recipe for TROLLHOUSE COOKIES
Re:Perfectly safe? (Score:3, Funny)
Because they're geologists?