ERUPTION OF MUD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20560, 10 May 1930, Page 12

ERUPTION OF MUD.

SPRINGS NEAR GISBORNE.

VISIT PAID TO SITE.

AN ASTONISHING CHANGE.

GEOLOGIST SECURES SPECIMENS

[BY. telegraph.—own correspondent.] GISBOKNE, Friday.

A wildly-tossed sea of mud pitted with <lerp holes and fissures in all directions by. the terrific, force of imprisoned gas, tho site of Tuesday's blow-out at the mud springs on Mr. Victor lavage's property at . YVaimata 'presented an extraordinary scene to a party of visitors to day. Although the area affected is not moro than a few acres in extent, the remarkable nature of the upheaval caused havoc within that area. The first impression pained by tho members of the party was that the amount of spoil thrown up by the eruption would run into hundreds of thousands of tons.

Curiously enough, although a sharp report and continued rumblings were heard in parts of the Waimata Valley on luesday morning, no one appears to have connected them with tho possibility of a blow-out at tho mud springs. Mr. Savage's homestead is separated from the .silo of the outburst by a high hill an.) tho sounds were not heard there, so thet Mr Savage had no idea of tho extraordinary scene he was to encounter when lie started out over his property to work his stock.

Alteration In Surface

■ The springs are situated on a Government reserve enclosed by Mr. Savage s station and this reserve is covered with scrub and manuka. Approaching over hin;h ground and emerging on the skyline above the reserve, tho settler gazed in amazement at the astonishing change in tho lands gape at his feet. Only the previous day he had been working in the neighbourhood and had mentally noted the firmness of the surface in the vicinity of "'the old gas vents,'the ground having baked so hard through successive summers that there Was not the slightest danger to stock in crossing it.

In place of this hard and fairly even surface Mr. Savage gnzed down on a stretch of grey pug, a quaking mass still rumbling with the escape of gas from somo vast underground reservoir, and rising 10ft. to 15ft. above tho normal level of the reserve. Down each side of the sea of mud stretched barriers formed by waves of earth thrust upward and backward by the explosion, while curious lanes ran down: tho length of tlie reserve and disappeared over tho lip of tho hill.

Mud 30It. Deep

Tho mud thrown up by tho eruption was fairly set and it was possible to walk across it almost anywhere. It had filled the creek bed to a depth of 30ft. for a length of almost 250 yards. Tho geologist who accompanied tho party obtained some interesting specimens from tho rocks thrown to the surface by tho explosion. Many of these rocks were of greonsand composition, identical with that found in - itho Mangaono oil bore at a depth exceeding 3000 ft., and other specimens were similar to a stratum found below the greensand at Mangaone. It was obvious that these specimens could not have como from ti tremendous depth at the latest blow-out, but evidently they liavo been working their way up through tho fault in which the gas channel exists. There were many other indications of geological value in the results of the disturbance.