# Porter Ranch Natural Gas Leak -- Metal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porter-ranch-natural-gas-leak-metal/754890 "2016-05-16T03:36:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porter-ranch-natural-gas-leak-metal/754890/1 "2016-05-16T03:36:50Z")
After the biggest natural gas leak in history at the Aliso Creek (California) storage site, and the (voluntary) partial evacuation of the nearby community of Porter Ranch, the citizens are finally going home… And there are news headlines of “metal particulates” being found in their homes. Metal? From a natural gas leak? How would that work? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porter-ranch-natural-gas-leak-metal/754890/2 "2016-05-16T03:48:21Z")
From the county public health department’s [release](http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/gasleak/) on this, “Testing and analysis of household surface dust in the Porter Ranch homes revealed low levels of metal contaminants consistent with those found in well drilling fluid which suggests they originated from the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage facility” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porter-ranch-natural-gas-leak-metal/754890/3 "2016-05-16T05:01:37Z")
If they say it’s consistent, then that’s a confirmation. But how would solids from well-drilling liquids have gotten into homes from a gas leak? What’s the transport mechanism? (I don’t even know enough chemistry to ask the question properly!) ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porter-ranch-natural-gas-leak-metal/754890/4 "2016-05-16T05:26:11Z")
Particulates spread by the wind. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porter-ranch-natural-gas-leak-metal/754890/5 "2016-05-16T05:34:31Z")
According to [this](http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/05/13/60609/porter-ranch-faq-what-s-in-the-dust-from-the-gas-w/), they used drilling fluid in their attempts to plug the leak, and the gas blew it back out. > [@](#): > > In the days following the initial well blowout last fall, Southern California Gas Co. workers made several attempts to plug the well by forcing heavy mud and fluid into it. But the pressure of the gas field was so high that it kept blowing the mud and fluids out of the well. Outdoor surfaces around homes, schools and parks were speckled with an oily black residue. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porter-ranch-natural-gas-leak-metal/754890/6 "2016-05-16T06:44:47Z")
Okay! I can visualize it now. Thanks! I was thinking that natural gas had been the only thing to leak, and hadn’t thought about drilling fluid. (I’d never heard of drilling fluid!) Ignorance fought. Or assuaged. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porter-ranch-natural-gas-leak-metal/754890/7 "2016-05-16T08:28:00Z")
Really heavy drilling mud is often barites. So “metal” could mean barium oxide. If they didn’t need it that heavy other metal oxides may be used. Drilling mechanics is a whole new world of applied physics. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porter-ranch-natural-gas-leak-metal/754890/8 "2016-05-16T11:08:12Z")
> **[Aerosol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerosol)** > > An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog or mist, dust, forest exudates, and geyser steam. Examples of anthropogenic aerosols include particulate air pollutants, mist from the discharge at hydroelectric dams, irrigation mist, perfume from atomizers, smoke, dust, steam from a kettle, sprayed pesticides, and medical treatments for respiratory illnesses. When a per The l...