# How can 'gas geysers' be wreaking havoc in Kansas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2001, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-gas-geysers-be-wreaking-havoc-in-kansas/51113 "2001-01-21T07:25:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![schief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@schief2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schief2)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-gas-geysers-be-wreaking-havoc-in-kansas/51113/1 "2001-01-21T07:25:36Z")
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, I refer you to [CNN story](http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/01/19/explosion.kansas.reut/), among others. Try as I might, I just can’t wrap my mind around how this works. So some natural gas escapes from a storage facility. Okay, I get that. So this gas leak is underground. Okay, I get that too. But what I just can’t figure out is how this escaped natural gas is apparently free to just sort of meander around underneath the town of Hutchinson, Kansas, popping up here and there in literal ‘gesyers’ of gas underneath homes, businesses, etc. I mean, wouldn’t the gas just sort of dissipate into the soil? How in the world can it keep enough pressure to blast into the sky like a Texas oil strike? > [@](#): > > One person has died so far in the series of disastrous events. John Hahn, 68, died Friday from burns and injuries suffered Thursday morning when his trailer home suddenly burst into a fireball as a pent-up pocket of natural gas shot through the ground and into the trailer, Henderson said. > > Hahn’s wife, 64-year-old Mary Ann Hahn, was in critical condition, Henderson said. > > The trailer explosion followed a similar blast that hit two adjacent downtown businesses Wednesday morning, forcing employees to rush for the exits with a fireball at their heels. At least 26 nearby businesses were damaged, but injuries were minor. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-gas-geysers-be-wreaking-havoc-in-kansas/51113/2 "2001-01-21T07:32:08Z")
Hey, in our newspaper today (the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal) the headline read “Gay geysers wreak havoc”. Your story at least made more sense. Anyway, natural gas tends to collect in pockets, and has a certain cohesion, which holds it together. Given time, it should dissipate or be absorbed, but that takes hours or longer. Meanwhile, it’s just waiting for a spark. That explanation is based on what I recall from my college organic chemistry days. If someone wants to be more rigorous, please jump in ---
**Author:** ![Gone\_The\_Sun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Gone\_The\_Sun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gone_The_Sun)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-gas-geysers-be-wreaking-havoc-in-kansas/51113/3 "2001-01-21T14:24:44Z")
I think the answers to your question are contained within the article. 1) The gas leak was massive. If all of the gas had released in a single area, the explosions/geysers would have been much larger. Only a portion of the escaped gas burned. 2) The gas travelled through faults in a salt mine, hence very dence soil/rock conditions kept it from being absorbed and kept it under pressure. I recall some years ago in Grand Isle, Vermont that a propane tank at the fish hatchery caught on fire, due to some welding activity in the area. They evacuated every resident within an one-mile area. Helicopters showed a tongue of flame coming from the tank approximately 10-15 feet long. Experts stated that if the tank were to blow, it would be equivalent to a small nuclear weapon in the extent of destruction it would unleash. Lesson learned? Gas under pressure is nasty stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-gas-geysers-be-wreaking-havoc-in-kansas/51113/4 "2001-01-21T14:48:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > **Hey, in our newspaper today (the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal) the headline read “Gay geysers wreak havoc”. Your story at least made more sense.** After reading [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=55502) thread, I would just have assumed that Esprix was in town. 😃 –sublight.