Comments on: Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom

By: IowaMechE

IowaMechE — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:14:24 +0000

[quote]Mirage_GSM said: “I wonder how it was possible for the water to flow back into the lake from the Gulf of Mexico…I looked up Lake Peigneur on Google Maps an it seems like it’s about 15 kilometers from the lake to the Gulf.If the lake was originally only eleven feet deep, that would translate into an elevation of less than 5 cm per km, even if the canal was as deep as the deepest part of the lake.The lake can’t be below sealevel, or the water would have been flowing towards it all the time.”[/quote]

All of the information speaks of the ’sucking power’ of the votex created. While this is the appearance of what happened, the ’sucking’ was actually simply the water draining out of the lake into the salt mine below. While the water was draining, the floor of the lake around the original 14″ hole drilled by the oil drill was continually eroded away into an ever increasing crevasse under the vortex. eventually the edge of this hole was close enough to the canal that water started flowing down the hole from the canal and effectively attempting to drain the Gulf of Mexico into the salt mine through the canal. The surface of the lake didn’t have to be below the flow line of the canal, but the bottom of it (which was constantly getting deeper) did. There is mention of a 150 foot water fall in some of the information, this would have been water dropping out of the bottom of the canal into the depths of the giant hole created as the lake drained and eroded the lake floor away.

Once the mine was full and the lake level reached that of the GoM, the flow stopped. The lake was 1300 acres and had an average depth of 6 feet (max depth of 11 feet.) That caculates to 2,540,000,000 gallons running down the drain into the mine (to drain the lake) and then that much more PLUS the volume of the mine not filled by the lake, running into it from the GoM…. that’s a LOT of water!

By: Rodger Wrighthead

Rodger Wrighthead — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:52:36 +0000

P.s. Case in point: I’m pretty sure there is no substance on earth that can “prevent” earthquakes… shortcoming affect everyone!

By: Rodger Wrighthead

Rodger Wrighthead — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:46:55 +0000

Very rarely do I take time out to point out peoples shortcomings; everyone has them at one point or another. But “Tectonic Lube”.
Holy Jebus that made me laugh.
(There is a slight chance that JustAnotherName is more ‘Troll’ than ‘less informed’ with a comment like that)

Although hansecke tried to save JustAnotherNames shame (or add to his Trollastic genius), is this concept completely disproven? If anyone can conjure up some information as to whether the existence of “Tectonic Lube” is indeed real (i.e. is there a substance that is more prone in reducing or preventing the buildup of energy in tectonic plates/prevent or reduce slipstick?) I would find that Damn Interesting…

By: Mirage_GSM

Mirage_GSM — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:03:24 +0000

I wonder how it was possible for the water to flow back into the lake from the Gulf of Mexico…
I looked up Lake Peigneur on Google Maps an it seems like it’s about 15 kilometers from the lake to the Gulf.
If the lake was originally only eleven feet deep, that would translate into an elevation of less than 5 cm per km, even if the canal was as deep as the deepest part of the lake.
The lake can’t be below sealevel, or the water would have been flowing towards it all the time.

By: pilot28

pilot28 — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:08:46 +0000

Wow! this brings back so many memories. I was a Seaplane Pilot for Paul Fournet Air Service when this accident happened. I was at that rig early on the morning of the accident, the company man made us leave the rig because they knew something was wrong. Later that day I flew the news crews around the lake to get footage for local and national news. All of the footage used for the documentary was shot from my seaplane. I remember being in awe as I watched this huge whirlpool swallow up everything in sight, barges, the rig, land. I can still see the huge waterfall in my mind. I could visibly see the current flowing backwards up the Delcambre canal. I just visited Jefferson Island about a month ago, the first time since the accident, it really brought back memories.

By: NikolaT

NikolaT — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:17:25 +0000

A friend put me onto this site. The Disappearing Lake story was terrific. Also, some readers may be interested in other real-life tales of engineering/other technical goof-ups. Take a look at the “Calamities” column in the Design News magazine. Get on their website at designnews.com, and check the magazine’s archives as well as the current issue.

By: RockySquirrel

RockySquirrel — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:58:03 +0000

And they just aired this episode on Modern Marvels yesterday! Which prompted me to look up info about it so I could share the story (correctly!) with a 12 year-old who comes with his dad (he takes care of my lawn, wonderful man!) every weekend. Anyway, he’s really interested in “rocks”! And, specifically, salt! I thought this would be a good story to keep his curiosity piqued! I love it!

And the banter here is great! I’ll certainly make sure I’ve got my “ducks in a row” before I through any tidbits out there!

By: VanBurren

VanBurren — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:00:43 +0000

I’d pay to take a DI 101 course! Sign me up! Just discovered this site —- absolutely fascinating!! Sorry-Damn Interesting:)