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Published online 29 August 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news060828-1
Corrected online: 30 August 2006

News

Mud volcano floods Java

Disaster-plagued Indonesian island faces new threat.

What has happened?

For 3 months a sea of hot mud has been gushing from the ground in Sidoarjo, East Java, 35 kilometres south of Indonesia's second largest city, Surabaya. The steaming mud pool is growing at an estimated 50,000 cubic metres a day, accompanied by hydrogen sulphide gas, and now reportedly covers more than 25 square kilometres.

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