Volcano gets choke chains to slow mud

DNA2004 submitted, created time 1 year 11 months (www.nature.com)

Indonesian geophysicists hope to stem the flow of a destructive mud volcano on East Java by dropping chains of concrete balls into its mouth.

The mud eruption began on 29 May last year in the middle of a rice paddy in the village of Porong, 30 kilometres south of Surabaya, the provincial capital. Since then, the volcano has spewed out up to 126,000 cubic metres of mud a day, flooding an area of more than 4 square kilometres.

Some 10,000 people have been left homeless and 20 factories have closed

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