Lake Peigneur

File:Salt dome trap.svg. At Lake Peigneur, the upward thrust of a salt dome, which became the Diamond Crystal salt mine, formed Jefferson Island.]]

In petroleum geology, the formation of a salt dome often pushes terrain upward from the surrounding land, while also creating a subterranean salt dome trap, holding petroleum deposits. On Thursday, November 20, 1980, the drill assembly of a Texaco contracted oil rig, just offshore of the salt dome-caused Jefferson Island (itself in the east southeast section of Lake Peigneur), pierced an inactive third level of the Diamond Crystal Salt Company salt mine. The hole produced a vortex that drained the lake into the mine, filling the enormous caverns that had been left by the removal of salt.

The mine, in operation since 1919, was made up of several levels up to {{convert|1500|ft}} below the surface. Each tunnel was about {{convert|100x80|ft}}. Pillars of salt had been left in place to support the ceiling at each level. The pillars were dissolved by the encroaching fresh water and caused the mine tunnels to collapse.

File:Lake Peigneur Waterfall.png temporarily created the biggest waterfall in Louisiana]]

The resultant sinkhole swallowed the drilling platform, eleven barges holding supplies for the drilling operation, a tugboat, many trees, and {{convert|65|acre|ha|abbr=off}} of the surrounding terrain, including much of Jefferson Island. So much water drained into the caverns that the flow of the Delcambre Canal that usually empties the lake into Vermilion Bay was reversed, causing salt water from the Gulf of Mexico to flow into what was now a dry lakebed. This backflow created for a few days the tallest waterfall ever in the state of Louisiana, at {{convert|164|ft|0|abbr=on}}, as the lake refilled with salty water from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay.{{cite episode |title=Engineering Disasters 5 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4geh_h8Qfk8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/4geh_h8Qfk8| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|access-date=2020-02-04 |series=Modern Marvels |network=History Channel |date=2003-12-30 |season=10 |number=86 |minutes=34 |language=en}}{{cbignore}} Air displaced by water flowing into the mine caverns erupted through the mineshafts as compressed air and then later as {{convert|400|ft|adj=on}} geysers.

Although there were no human deaths, three dogs were reported killed. All 55 employees in the mine at the time of the accident escaped, with six employees later given awards by Diamond Crystal for heroism. Their successful evacuation was thanks to the mine's electrician who noticed a torrent of water and sounded the alarm, as well as the employees' discipline and training making their escape via the only elevator in an orderly fashion.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcWRO2pyLA8 | title=The Lake Peigneur Giant Sinkhole Disaster 1980 | website=YouTube | date=25 May 2022 }}{{cite report |author=Mine Safety and Health Administration |author-link=Mine Safety and Health Administration |date=1981-08-13 |title=The Jefferson Island Mine inundation |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822029061140&view=1up&seq=13 |page=37 |access-date=2020-02-04 |quote="Five days after the inundation, Diamond Crystal gave out awards for heroism to Earl Dundas, Junius Gaddison, Wilfred Johnson, Louis Babin, and John Vice for their cool-headed actions and leadership during the successful evacuation. When officials found out later about Randy La Salle's search by truck for miners in remote areas of the 1,500-foot level, they also cited him for heroism."}} The crew of seven on the drilling rig fled the platform shortly before it collapsed into the new depths of the lake. A fisherman who was on the lake at the time piloted his small boat to shore and escaped. Days after the disaster, once the water pressure equalized, nine of the eleven sunken barges popped out of the whirlpool and refloated on the lake's surface.

On the date of the disaster, the oil rig was conducting exploratory drilling in the lake alongside a salt dome under the water, that contained a salt mine.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/11/22/an-end-of-the-world-scene-earth-swallows-lake-oil-rig/2ad5eddb-fbe0-46d3-b8b3-db18bd3266ac/ |title=An 'End of the World' Scene: Earth Swallows Lake, Oil Rig |last=Pope |first=John |date=November 21, 1980 |newspaper=The Washington Post |location=Jefferson Island, LA |access-date=February 16, 2024}}

The rig's {{convert|14|in|cm|adj=on}} drill assembly had become stuck at {{convert|1228|ft}} two-and-a-half hours before the drilling rig began to tilt.{{cite report |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822029061140&view=1up&seq=13 |title=The Jefferson Island Mine inundation |author=Mine Safety and Health Administration |date=August 13, 1981 |page=57 |quote="Because it was impossible to inspect the flooded mine workings, and because of the circumstantial nature of the information available, it would be extremely difficult to determine the precise cause of the inundation." |author-link=Mine Safety and Health Administration |access-date=February 4, 2020}}

The drill assembly punctured the salt mine beneath the lake, and the water entered the mine. Over the course of several hours, the fresh lake water dissolved the salt and enlarged the hole, causing the lake to drain into the mine.{{cite web |url=https://www.damninteresting.com/lake-peigneur-the-swirling-vortex-of-doom/ |title=Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom |last=Bellows |first=Alan |date=September 6, 2005 |website=damninteresting.com |access-date=April 27, 2017}}{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1237358449 |title=Humble pi : when math goes wrong in the real world |last=Parker |first=Matt |date=2021 |isbn=978-0-593-08469-4 |edition=Riverhead trade paperback |location=New York |oclc=1237358449}}

The Mine Safety and Health Administration was unable to determine blame because they could not determine whether Texaco was drilling in the wrong place or if the mine's maps were inaccurate.

Evidence that could have confirmed the cause was washed away in the maelstrom. Engineers from Texaco and Diamond Crystal worked together after the fact and pinpointed the likely location of the hole within a mined out portion of the {{convert|1300|ft|adj=mid}} level of the mine.{{cite report |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822029061140&view=1up&seq=13 |title=The Jefferson Island Mine inundation |author=Mine Safety and Health Administration |date=August 13, 1981 |page=98 |quote="Appendix T: Estimated Drill Hole Location" |author-link=Mine Safety and Health Administration |access-date=February 4, 2020}}

In 1983, Texaco and the drilling contractor Wilson Brothers paid {{US$|32|link=yes}}{{nbsp}}million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|32|1983|r=0}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}) to Diamond Crystal, while Texaco, Wilson Brothers and Diamond Crystal also paid a total of $12.8{{nbsp}}million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|12.8|1983|r=1}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}) to the Live Oak Gardens botanical garden and plant nursery, in out-of-court settlements to compensate for the damage caused.{{cite news |title=Settlement reached in Jeff Island accident |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/07/07/Settlement-reached-in-Jeff-Island-accident/4485426398400/ |work=United Press International |location=Baton Rough, Louisiana |date=1983-07-07 |access-date=2020-02-04}} The Mine Safety and Health Administration released a report on the disaster in August 1981 which exhaustively documented the event but stopped short of identifying an official reason for the disaster. The mine was finally closed in December 1986.

Since 1994, AGL Resources has used Lake Peigneur's underlying salt dome as a storage and hub facility for pressurized natural gas.{{cite web |url=http://www.aglresources.com/about/jish_qa.aspx |title=Jefferson Island Storage and Hub Q & A |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050528/http://www.aglresources.com/about/jish_qa.aspx |archive-date=2019-02-15}} AGL resources, 2007, (map of lake showing current and planned gas caverns){{cite web |url=http://www.aglresources.com/pressroom/news_details.aspx?releaseID=774250&earn=1 |title=AGL Resources Seeking Customer Interest in Project to Expand Jefferson Island Storage & Hub Facility; Two New Salt Caverns Could Almost Triple Capacity |type=Press Release |date=2005-10-27 |access-date=2017-04-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205212908/http://www.aglresources.com/pressroom/news_details.aspx?releaseID=774250&earn=1 |archive-date=2012-02-05}} There was concern from local residents in 2009 over the safety of storing the gas under the lake and nearby drilling operations.{{cite news |url=http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?s=11651642 |title=Lake Peigneur Update |date=December 9, 2009 |publisher=WorldNow and KLFY |access-date=2017-04-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307100650/http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?s=11651642 |archive-date=March 7, 2014}}

• Bayou Corne sinkhole
• Döda fallet
• Lake Beloye (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast)
• List of sinkholes of the United States
• Rylands v Fletcher

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20190914003857/http://www.losapos.com/lakepeigneur Lake Peigneur: The biggest sinkhole ever created] (archived)
• {{YouTube|_feWtkSucvE|Oil Driller Breaches Salt Mine Under Louisana [sic] Lake}}
• [http://www.thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/03files/Endangered_Earth_Sinkhole_Louisiana.html Endangered Earth - Sinkholes Assorted]
• {{cite book |last=Warren |first=John K. |date=2006 |title=Evaporites: Sediments, Resources, and Hydrocarbons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ihny39BvVhIC&q=%22lake+peigneur%22&pg=PA928 |publisher=Berlin; New York: Springer Publishing |pages=928–930 |isbn=9783540260110 |access-date=2020-02-04}} Contains a description of the event, with a focus on the geology of the region.
• [https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00000383/00076/44x Mine-mouth geyser problem], Chemical Engineering Education, an in-depth discussion of how the inrush of water could have created a powerful geyser
• {{cite magazine |last=Gold |first=Michael |date=November 1981 |title=Who Pulled the Plug on Lake Peigneur? |magazine=Science 81 |pages=56{{hyphen}}63}}
• The podcast Eclipsed has a two-part episode about Lake Peigneur. [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vanishing-of-lake-peigneur-episode-1/id1587958685?i=1000544199119 Part 1] [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vanishing-of-lake-peigneur-episode-2-the-lake/id1587958685?i=1000544921616 Part 2]

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Category:Bodies of water of Iberia Parish, Louisiana

Category:Disasters in Louisiana

Category:Engineering failures

Category:Environment of Louisiana

Category:Environmental disasters in the United States

Peigneur

Category:Landforms of Iberia Parish, Louisiana

Category:Oil platform disasters

Peigneur

Category:Salt domes

Category:Sinkholes of the United States

Category:Texaco

Category:1980 industrial disasters