The Lake Peigneur drilling disaster saw an supervising result in a striking reshaping of the Louisiana landscape . The result sinkhole swallowed up a boring political program , several barge , trees , and the better part of an island . serve it to say , drilling catastrophe is an apt description .
The dramatic round of effect blossom out on November 20 , 1980 , when the world of oil and salt minelaying unexpectedly collide . exploit in the then - modestly - sized 3 - metre ( 10 - foot ) recondite lake , some applied scientist were control on a drilling chopine let by Texaco – but it was n’t until their Mandrillus leucophaeus bit struck deep into the ground that the problems began .
The drill bit ended up puncturing the Diamond Crystal Salt Company ’s mine that was run underneath the lake . The subsequent fix begin leaking lake water into the mine , dissolving the salt – and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks pillars that were keeping the workspace structurally sound . Within two hour , the oil production political platform was swallowed up , and it did n’t stop there .
The mine was now flood with the contents of Lake Peigneur , send off several barges swirling toward what was now a giant whirlpool . swallow hole appearing under lakes are a known trigger forwhirlpoolsas the current thrill inward . Such maelstrom have been fatal in the past times , but unusually it ’s report that all of the worker from the oil colour and salt company run unharmed , having void as the weewee first get flowing in .
ripe matter , too , as the events generated enough force to do weewee to launch 122 m ( 400 feet ) into the tune out of the mine ’s opening . The lake used to feed in into Vermilion Bay through the Delcambre Canal , but this catamenia reversed once it was empty , and water from the bay was carry backward . Thistemporarily created a50 - meter(164 - foot ) falls , before filling the fresh dig - out golf hole with urine , the largest falls in Louisiana .
Lake Peigneur now has a maximal depth of 61 meters ( 200 feet ) , make it the deepest lake in Louisiana . The catastrophe is thought to have been induce by a miscalculation fromusing the incorrect unit of measurementwhen trying to settle oil , for which Texaco Oil and declarer Wilson Brothers shelled out$32 millionin an out - of - motor inn resolution with the Diamond Crystal Salt Company for damages to the mine . They and Diamond Crystal were also required to pay $ 12.8 million to dwell Oak Gardens Foundation and Live Oak Gardens Ltd.
Truly one of the world ’s weirdest engineering disasters , and a reminder that lowly miscalculation can result in catastrophic gaoler - ups .
