A roadside eatery has settled by the picturesque little lake, and neither motorists nor fishing enthusiasts pass it by.
The fish in the lake's depths must be feeling fine, since some anglers occasionally have the luck to catch a pike or a bream.
People come, admire the scenery, rest under the crowns of the spreading trees, feast — and nothing any longer suggests that this body of water was formed by a man-made accident at a gas field. An information stand with a map and diagrams, set up on the shore of the blue expanse, sheds light on the history of the Uhersko gas crater.
Prospecting near the village of Uhersko in the Lviv region was begun in 1943 by a German gas company. In 1946 exploratory drilling of the largest and deepest gas-bearing deposit of the Uhersko field continued. Well No. 104 turned out dry, that is, without gas. The next, No. 105, stood on the very spot where the lake is now. At first all went normally and the depth of the borehole was approaching 1,100 m. On the night of 4 November 1946 the gas workers were raising the pipes to replace the drill bit and violated the technological process. As a result the static pressure on the stratum dropped, and the natural gas, with an unheard-of roar, flung aside the 800-metre pipe column and shot up in a fountain of soil and mud. It all happened in an instant! The agitated depths pushed out rock, roaring and rumbling. Stone striking against stone made a fiery spark and an explosion followed, its wave knocking out window panes in homes in the neighbouring villages. The glow of the scorching torch could be seen 50 km away. Every day 10 million cubic metres of gas burnt off — equal to two days' household needs of the Lviv region's consumers. The fiery candle grew and reached a height of 30 metres, and attempts to put out the flame brought no result. Hundreds of German prisoners of war, specialists and workers were brought in to deal with the accident. Many of them died in cave-ins. The furious blaze was tamed only after two wells were drilled at an angle towards the main one, reducing the gas pressure. The Uhersko beacon burnt for a year, and in that time the gas losses came to 3 billion cubic metres – 10% of the field's natural reserves.
Where the torch had raged, a bowl-shaped crater 40 m deep was formed. In time groundwater filled the chasm, and the reservoir was named the Lake of Geologists in honour of the mineral prospectors. The round basin is 150 m in diameter. With time nature covered the wound with a green mantle, and today the lake is framed by a dense belt of woodland.
Coordinates: 49°19'37"N 23°54'22"E
This story is also available in Ukrainian: Угерсько. Озеро Геологів. Природний пам'ятник техногенній аварії
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave your impression